Prevalence and predictors of drug-related hospitalisation among patients visiting emergency departments of Addis Ababa city hospitals in Ethiopia: a multicentre prospective observational study

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine the prevalence, categories and predictors of drug-related hospitalisation (DRH) among patients visiting emergency departments of Addis Ababa city hospitals, Ethiopia. DESIGN: A multicentre prospective observational study was conducted through patients’ interview and chart review. SETTINGS: The study was undertaken in three tertiary care hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 423 patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were included. OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence and preventability of DRH, categories of drug-related problems causing DRH, medications and diseases involved in DRH, and factors significantly associated with DRH. RESULT: More than half of the patients (216, 51.1%) were female. The mean age (SD) was 47.50 (±17.21) years. The mean length of hospital stay (SD) was 10.29 (±8.99) days. Nearly 60% (249) of them were hospitalised due to drug-related problems, of which 87.8% were preventable. The cause for hospitalisation for more than half (130, 53%) of them was a failure to receive drugs, and 37.85 (94) patients were categorised as untreated indications. Age ≥65 years (adjusted OR (AOR)=7.451, 95% CI: 1.889 to 29.397), tertiary educational level (AOR=0.360, 95% CI: 0.141 to 0.923), participants who did not have any occupation (AOR=3.409, 95% CI: 1.120 to 10.374) and presence of comorbid conditions (AOR=2.004, 95% CI: 1.095 to 3.668) were predictors of DRH. CONCLUSION: Nearly 90% of DRH was deemed to be preventable in the study settings. Older age, lower educational level, unemployment and presence of comorbid conditions in hospital as an inpatient were predictors of DRH.