English

Abstract

Introduction: Drug-drug interaction refers to an altered or impaired responseof drug as a resultant of the other drug’s activity. However, recently advancement in field oftherapeutics has leaded the therapy toward more rational and logical trend in order to improvethe patients’ health with respect to cost effectiveness. Objective: To assess the various levels ofDDIs in Prescriptions at public sector teaching hospital of Hyderabad, Pakistan. Study Designand Settings/Methodology: A descriptive observational questionnaire based study has beenconducted by collecting initially 250 random prescriptions of various patients prescribed withmultiple drugs. Tertiary care hospital OPD and In-patient wards were visited for a period of06 months. The Prescriptions (℞) so collected were analyzed and assessed individually fordrug interactions using Standard drug interaction software i.e.. Lexi-comp’s Lexi-Interact, DrugInformation Handbook, Hansten and Horn’s drug interactions. Results: For this study, a total 250Prescriptions were collected. It was observed that 30 (12%) prescriptions contained with singlemedication, 10 (4%) prescriptions were unreadable, 210 (84%) prescriptions were containedmore than one medication. Moreover, 210 (84%) poly-pharmacy prescriptions focused keenly.Subsequently, 51 (24%) prescriptions ensured the prevalence of DDIs and 159 (76%) were Non-DDIs prescriptions. Similarly, 13 ℞ contained four or more than four drugs, 32 ℞ contained threedrugs and 06 prescriptions contained two drugs correspondingly. Conclusion: It was clearlyconcluded that the most potential reason of DDIs are Poly pharmacy. So it is of utmost needto enhance the health care policies in overall healthcare system in order to antagonize DDIsassociated morbidity and mortality among society.