ASSESSMENT OF DRUG INTERACTIONS AMONG HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS AT HUE UNIVERSITY OF MEDICINE AND PHARMACY HOSPITAL

Background: Drug - drug interaction is a common problem in clinical practice, especially in comorbidity and multiple symptoms, the combination of drugs in treatment is inevitable. According to a literature review published in 2007, an estimated 0.6% of patients were hospitalized and about 0.1% of patients were re-hospitalized due to adverse drug reactions related to drug interactions. Objectives: (1) To identify clinically significant drug interactions among hospitalized patients at Internal Medicine Faculty, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital, (2) To build a management guideline of clinically significant drug interactions at Internal Medicine Faculty, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital. Materials and methods: 400 inpatient medical records in the Department of General Internal Medicine - Endocrinology and Cardiology Department were collected at the Department of General Planning, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital from April 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019; using cross-sectional descriptive study method. Results and Conclusion: The list of 20 clinically significant drug interaction pairs was identified and a management guideline for each interacting pair was built. The incidence of clinically significant drug interactions was 20.25%. The most commonly identified drug interaction pair was ACE inhibitors and potassium (7.50%). The occurrence of drug interactions increased with increase in the age of patients, the number of diseases, the duration of treatment and the number of drugs prescribed (p < 0.05). Key words: combination of drugs, drug interaction, clinically significant, medical record, inpatient