Potential Drug-Drug Interactionsamong Adult Patients Admitted to MedicalWards at a Tertiary Teaching Hospital inEthiopia
Abstract
Abstract
Introduction: A Drug-drug interaction (DDI) is a decrease or increase in the pharmacological or clinical response to the administration of two or more drugs that are different from the anticipated response they initiate when individually administered.
Objectives: To assess the prevalence and factors associated with potential DDIs among adult inpatients admitted to the medical wards of a tertiary teaching Hospital in Ethiopia.
Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study design was employed on adult patients who were admitted to the medical ward in one year period. A total of 384patients’ medical records were checked for a possible DDI using Micromedex DrugReax® drug interaction database and analyzed consecutively using SPSS version 20.0.
Results: Among 384 adult patients enrolled in the study, 209 (54.4%) of them had medications with at least one potential DDI in their prescriptions. Of the 209 potential DDI, 26.3% were with a minimum of one major potential DDI. The median number of potential DDI per patient was 2.2. Overall, 296 potential DDI were identified in the current study. Among 296 identified potential drug-drug interactions, most of the interaction (49.7%) had good documentation. The number of medication prescribed per patient showed a significant (p< 0.001) association with the occurrence of potential DDIs.
Conclusion: More than half of the patients’ prescription contains potentially interacting medications. This study, additionally, revealed that there is a significant association between potential DDIs and number of medications prescribed per patient.
Key words: Drug-drug interactions, pharmacokinetic interaction, pharmacodynamic interaction, internal medicine
DOI
https://doi.org/10.22270/jddt.v8i5-s.2056Published
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