Drug-related problems and associated factors among adult psychiatric inpatients in Northwest Ethiopia: Multicenter cross-sectional study

Objective: To determine the prevalence of drug-related problems and the factors influencing them among adult psychiatric inpatients. Methods: A multi-centre cross-sectional observational study was conducted from April to July 2021 at five randomly selected hospitals in Northwest Ethiopia. A total of...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ephrem Mebratu Dagnew, Mohammed Biset Ayalew, Gizework Alemnew Mekonnen, Alehegn Bishaw Geremew, Ousman Abubeker Abdela
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2022-08-01
Series:SAGE Open Medicine
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/20503121221112485
Description
Summary:Objective: To determine the prevalence of drug-related problems and the factors influencing them among adult psychiatric inpatients. Methods: A multi-centre cross-sectional observational study was conducted from April to July 2021 at five randomly selected hospitals in Northwest Ethiopia. A total of 325 consecutively sampled patients participated in the study. Clinical pharmacists assessed the drug-related problems based on clinical judgement supported by updated evidence-based disease guidelines. We used the Medscape drug-interactions checker to check drug-to-drug interactions. The results were summarised using descriptive statistics, including frequency, mean, and standard deviation. For each variable, an odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval was calculated, as well as the related p -value. The value of p  ⩽ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: From the total number of 325 study participants, more than half of them (52.9%) were females, and the mean age ± (standard deviation) was 30.8 ± 11.3 years. At least one drug-related problem was recorded by 60.9% to 95% confidence interval (55.7–65.8) of study participants, with a mean of 0.6 ± 0.49 per patient. Additional drug therapy was the most common drug-related problem (22.8%) followed by non-adherence to medicine (20.6%) and adverse drug reactions (11%), respectively. Factors independent associated with drug-related problems were rural residence (adjusted odds ratio = 1.96, 95% confidence interval: 1.01–2.84, p -value = 0.046), self-employed (adjusted odds ratio = 6.0, 95% confidence interval: 1.0–36.9, p -value = 0.035) and alcohol drinkers (adjusted odds ratio = 6.40, 95% confidence interval: 1.12–37.5, p -value = 0.034). Conclusion: The prevalence of drug-related problems among adult psychiatric patients admitted to psychiatric wards was high. Healthcare providers give more attention to tackling these problems. Being a rural resident, self-employed, and alcohol drinkers were associated with drug-related problems.
ISSN:2050-3121