The Prevalence and Severity of Potential Drug–Drug Interactions in Internal Medicine Ward at Soba Teaching Hospital

BACKGROUND: Multiple drug therapies are commonly used to achieve a desired therapeutic goal, especially in hospitalized patients. However, drug–drug interactions might occur and threaten the patients’ safety. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess the prevalence and severity of potential drug–drug interactions (PDDIs) in the internal medicine ward at Soba Teaching Hospital. METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional hospital-based study was carried out in the internal medicine ward at Soba Teaching Hospital from June 2021 to December 2021. The data was collected from patients’ medical records. PDDIs were identified using Lexicomp(®) drug interaction software. RESULTS: A total of 377 patients were included in this study, and overall prevalence of PDDIs was 62.9%. We have identified 989 potential DDIs and 345 pairs of interacting drugs, the mean of the PDDIs per patient was 4.17 ± 4.079. Among 345 PDDIs most were of moderate interactions 70.1% (n=242) followed by Minor interactions 19.1% (n=66). The most common type of interaction was of category C representing 63.5% (n=219). A significant association was observed between the occurrence of PDDIs with patients’ age, presence of chronic diseases, length of hospital stay, and number of medications received by the patients. CONCLUSION: Drug–drug interactions were highly prevalent in the internal medicine ward. Therefore, certain attempts are required to increase the awareness of the physicians about these interactions and minimize their occurrence.