Drug Therapy Problems and Associated Factors Among Hypertensive Patients in North Wollo Public Hospitals, Northeast Ethiopia: Institutional-Based Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Drug therapy problems (DTPs) are common in people with hypertension and may threaten the effective management of the disease. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and predictors for DTPs in hypertensive people in North Wollo public hospitals. METHODS: On patients with hypertension, a cross-sectional study based in a health institution was carried out using an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire and medical record review from 6 November 2022 to 18 January 2023. All hypertensive patients, ages 18 and older, who underwent regular follow-ups for at least 12 months were included in the study using a simple random sampling method. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to establish the association between independent variables and the occurrence of DTPs. Unnecessary drug therapy, the need for additional drug therapy, ineffective drugs, dosage too low, dosage too high, adverse drug reactions, and noncompliance were the outcome variables. RESULTS: The study included 376 hypertensive patients. Of the total participants, 258 (68.6%) were female. The mean number of drug therapy problems per patient was 1.55 ± 0.307, with 298 participants (79.3%) reporting having at least one such problem. This study found that the need for additional drug therapy was the most prevalent problem (149, 39.66%). Polypharmacy (AOR = 2.487, 95% CI = 1.375–4.499, p = 0.003), presence of comorbidity (AOR = 1.886, 95% CI = 1.035–3.439, p = 0.038), and uncontrolled BP (AOR = 2.961, 95% CI = 1.669–5.254, p = <0.001) predicts the development of drug therapy problems. CONCLUSION: Patients with hypertension who are on follow-up experience drug therapy problems frequently. Promoting the involvement of clinical pharmacists in designing, implementing, and monitoring therapeutic plans is recommended to decrease the occurrence of drug therapy problems.