Abstract

Background: Drugs are required to treat several diseases and complaints; however, they have a significant effect on the life of the individual and community, if they are used judiciously. The study aimed to assess the actors affecting the prescription of drugs among family physicians.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among adults and children who had medications prescribed during the period from May to June 2020. The study used an online questionnaire to investigate the demographics of children and adults who were prescribed drugs and the pattern of drug prescription.
Results: This study included 280 children aged below 18 years and 500 adults older than 18 years. The male gender was dominant in the children’s group (55.71%), whereas females were dominant in the adult group (51.2%). Lower back pain was the most common complaint among children (32.5%) and adults (40.6%). Most of the children (55.36%) and adults (60.2%) were not prescribed drugs. The most common dosage form was ampoule (28.93%) among children and syrup (17.8%) among adults. The most common drug prescribed for children was anti-hypertensive (13.93%) and non steroidal antiinflamatory drug (NSAIDs0 (28.8%) among adults.
Conclusion: The patterns of drug prescription and complaints of each population vary among children and adult groups of the Saudi population.

Key words: Factors, drug prescription, family physicians