Evaluation of knowledge, attitudes and experience of off-label drug prescribing practice among physicians in Baghdad City hospitals

Abstract EN

The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and experience of off-label prescribing practice among physicians working in public hospitals in Baghdad city.

This cross-sectional study was performed from November 1st 2018 to March 2019 in 17 public hospitals in Baghdad, Iraq.

The targeted hospitals were randomly selected at different regions in Baghdad City.

A self-administered questionnaire was utilized to collect data from the physicians.

Out of the 400 distributed paper questionnaires to a convenience sample of physicians, 383 of them were returned completed.

More than half of the participants (57.2%) indicated that they were reasonably familiar with the term “off-label drug”, 57.7% mentioned that the most common medical reason for the prescribing off-label drugs was unavailability of alternatives.

About two thirds had concerns regarding off-label drug safety and efficacy.

62.7% agreed that the Ministry of Health authority should provide an incentive to pharmaceutical companies to perform clinical trials in Iraqi patients, 49.1% believed that clinical trials that recruit volunteers involve ethical issues.

Extensive efforts are required to make programs, regulations and guidelines to control the off-label prescribing practice among the Iraqi healthcare providers at different healthcare settings