Drug related problems and associated factors among thyroid disorder patients in Northwest Ethiopia

Thyroid disorder patients are likely to have a prescription for various categories of drugs including those with a narrow therapeutic index and others, which affects thyroid function. However, information regarding drug therapy problems in thyroid patients has not been studied here yet. Thus this study aimed to assess drug therapy problems and associated factors among thyroid disorder patients, who had follow-ups at Northwest Hospitals of Ethiopia. A multicenter hospital-based cross-sectional study design was employed through patient interviews and chart review at public hospitals in Northwest Ethiopia. A simple random sampling technique was used to recruit patients for interviews. The identified drug-related problem was recorded and classified using Cipolle et al. 2012, adverse drug reactions were assessed by using the Naranjo algorithm of adverse drug reaction probability scale, and Up-to-date was used for the drug-drug interaction checker. The collected data was cleared, entered into epidata, checked for correctness, and exported to STATA version 17 for analysis. The results were summarized using descriptive statistics including frequency, mean, median, and standard deviation. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify the independent predictors of drug therapy problems. A P-value < 0.05 is considered statistically significant. Among 351 study participants most of them 300 (85.47%) were females. The study participants' mean (± SD) age was 45.1± (0.74) years. At least one drug-related problem was recorded from 60.11%, (95% CI: 54.9-65.13) of study participants with a mean of 1.54 ± 0.046 drug-related problems per patient. The most common drug-related problems were non-adherence (34.47%) followed by adverse drug reactions (17.2%) and ineffective drug therapy (8.2%). Factors independently associated with drug-related problems were age [AOR = 2.85, 95%CI: (1.05-7.69), P-value = 0.039], poly-pharmacy [AOR = 2.57, 95%CI: (1.01-6.29), P-value = 0.046], comorbidity [AOR = 2.09, 95%CI: (1.07-4.05), P-value = 0.030], and purchasing medication from private pharmacy [AOR = 2.62, 95%CI: (1.06-6.49), P-value = 0.038]. The prevalence of drug-related problems among adult thyroid disease patients who had follow up at ambulatory clinics was very high. Age, poly-pharmacy, comorbidity, and purchasing medication in private pharmacies were independent predictors of drug-related problems. The most commonly involved medication class in experiencing drug-related problems was thionamides.