Trends in prescribing patterns and drug related problems of kidney disease patients

The descriptive cross-sectional study was planned to evaluate drug-related problems, including drug-drug interactions, dose error, use of nephrotoxic drugs and polypharmacy, with special emphasis on kidney disease patients. The study was conducted from January to June 2019 in the Nephrology Ward of Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad, Pakistan. Doses of medicine and drug-drug interactions were evaluated by comparing it with standard protocols in British National Formulary and Lexicomp. Prescriptions were also evaluated for polypharmacy and use of nephrotoxic drugs. Out of 131 patients, 72 (55%) were males. Drug-drug interactions were found in 69 (52.7%) patients among whom the highest percentage was of moderate drug-drug interaction 63 (48.1%), followed by major 39 (29.8%) and minor 29 (22%) drug-drug interactions. Incidence of polypharmacy 68 (51.9%) and use of nephrotoxic drug 101 (77%) was high, while dose error was low 14 (10.7%). All drug-related problems were present with a high percentage in patients with chronic kidney diseases 29 (78.4) out of 37 (28.2%) such patients. There was significant association of chronic kidney diseases stages with drug-drug interactions, polypharmacy, dose error and prescribing drugs (p<0.05). The higher incidence of drug-related problems reflected irrational prescribing trends and deficiency of professional staff dealing with kidney disease patients.