Tap chi Y Hoc Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh

Truong Tran Anh Thu, Nguyen Huong Thao, Nguyen Thang
* Ho Chi Minh City Journal of Medicine * Vol. 24 –
No. 2 – 2020: 142 – 146

Background: Drug-related problems (DRPs) may have
adverse impacts on treatment outcomes, hospitalization, mortality, and healthcare
costs.

Objectives: To determine
prevalence, characteristics, and factors related to DRPs in prescriptions of
patients with coronary artery diseases.

Materials
and methods: We
conducted a cross-sectional study on prescriptions of outpatients with coronary
artery diseases at a hospital in Can Tho during August 2018. Drug-related  problems were assessed using following
documents: summary of product
characteristics, Vietnamese National Drug
Formulary 2015 and treatment guidelines for coronary artery diseases.

Results: Prescriptions of 683 patients were included (mean age
63.4; 64.3% female). Inappropriate problems related to dosage (22.2%), dosage
frequency (24.2%), inappropriate timing of administration (4.1%), and
inappropriate timing concerning meal time (57.2%) were identified. Patients
aged of 65 years or older (OR = 0.60; 95% CI: 0.41-0.87) or with social health
insurance (OR = 0.60; 95% CI: 0.43-0.83) were less likely to experience DRPs.
Patients who received five or more drugs were more likely to experience DRPs
(OR = 1.87; 95% CI: 1.09-3.21).

Conclusion: DRPs are common among
prescriptions of patients with coronary artery diseases. Further studies should
be conducted to determine the association between DRPs and physicians
characteristics, and to evaluate clinical relevance of such DRPs.

Keywords: drug-related problems, prescribing,
coronary artery diseases, Can Tho