Drug-related problems in hospitalised Parkinson’s disease patients in China

BACKGROUND: There has been a lack of studies on the types and severity of drug-related problems (DRPs) in hospitalised patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) in China until now. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the types and causes of DRPs, and to assess the severity of these DRPs in PD patients in neurology wards. METHODS: A retrospective study involving 209 PD inpatients was conducted at a tertiary hospital in China from January 2017 to December 2018. The identification and assessment of DRPs were based on the Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe (PCNE) tool version 8.03. The severity ratings of these DRPs was assessed based on the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP) classification. RESULTS: A total of 274 DRPs with an average of 1.31±1.00 problems per patient were identified, in which 83.3% of the population had at least one DRP. Using the PCNE classification system, the most common domain of DRPs was “Other, P3” (62.8%), followed by “Treatment effectiveness, P1” (19.3%) and “Treatment safety, P2” (17.9%). A total of 88.7% of the DRPs were rated at severity categories B to D (causing no or potential harm), whereas 11.3% were rated as categories E to H (causing actual harm). CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that the prevalence of DRPs is high among PD patients. The identification of different subtypes of DRPs may facilitate risk reduction for PD patients.