Abstract:
Introduction: Heart failure (HF) is a complex clinical syndrome that results from structural or
functional impairment of ventricular filling or ejection of blood. Drug therapy of HF is growing
more complex, thus making appropriate patient management increasingly challenging which
makes HF patients are at risk for developing drug-related problems. A drug-related problem
(DRP) is an event or circumstance involving drug therapy that actually or potentially interferes
with desired health outcomes.
Objective: This study aimed to assess DRPs among ambulatory HF patients attending at medical
referral clinic of Debre Berhan Compressive Specialized Hospital, Ethiopia.
Materials and Methods: A hospital bases cross-sectional study was conducted among 344 HF
patients. Cipolle et al. DRP classification schemes used to classify DRPs and drug-drug
interactions was assess by using Micromedex, up-to-date, and drug.com drug-drug interaction
checkers. The data was entered in Epidata version 4.2.0 and analyzed by SPSS version 25.0
statistical software. Descriptive statistics such as mean, percent, and frequency were used to
summarize patients’ characteristics. Univariable and multivariable binary logistic regression
analysis was used to identify associated factors with dependent variables and P ˂0.05 used to
declare association.
Results: Drug related problem was found in 80.8% of HF patients. A total of 416 numbers of
DRPs were identified. Adverse drug reaction (35.58%) was the top DRPs identified followed by
need additional drug therapy (30.53%) and ineffective drug therapy (26.9%). Presence of
comorbidity and level of education of study participants had significant association with
occurrence of DRP.
Conclusion: Prevalence of DRPs among ambulatory heart failure patients was high. Checking
potential drug–drug interactions before starting a new therapy, ensuring sustainable availability
of medications, and regular education programs are recommended to minimize DRPs.
