STUDY THE POTENTIAL DRUG-DRUG INTERACTION THROUGH PRESCRIPTIONS ANALYSIS IN SOME SANA'A CITY HOSPITALS, YEMEN

Mohammed A. Alkhawlani, Ahmed M. Al-Ghani and Mahmoud Mahyoob Alburyhi*

ABSTRACT

Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) occur during the co-administration of medications. They are a common cause of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and lead to increasing healthcare costs. Objective: To assessment of frequency, severity and mechanism of DDIs through prescriptions analysis in some Sana'a hospitals. Methods: The cross-sectional observation study was performed on some Government and private hospitals in Sana'a city from June 2022 to April 2023. Prescriptions with two or more drugs prescribed were selected for the study stratified by age, sex, and frequency of common interacting drugs. Drugs were analyzed for interactions by using the Medscape drug interaction checker. Potential drug-drug interactions (pDDIs) were classified based on the severity and mechanism of interactions. Results: A total of 1321 prescriptions were collected from various section of both Government and private hospitals, 398 prescriptions with one drug were excluded from study and 923 prescriptions analyzed, of which 299 prescriptions had 989 pDDIs. From these, 51.5% was female, and 48.5% male. The study findings showed that the prescriptions for Private hospital had the greatest number of drug interactions. Most of the pDDIs by mechanisms were pharmacokinetic drug interactions (52.8%) followed by pharmacodynamic (47.2%). The Department in the hospital I.C. U had the greatest number of drug interactions. A severity assessment showed that majority of the DDIs were moderate (58.6%) followed by Mild (24.2%) then Sever (16.4%). The study results showed that as the number of drugs increases in a prescription, the number of DDIs also increases. Conclusion: In our study, we found that most common pDDIs were more in prescriptions of private hospital in Sanaa, Pharmacokinetic in nature and of moderate severity. The number of pDDI increased with increase the number of drugs prescribed.

Keywords: Drug-Drug Interaction; Adverse Drug Reaction; Prescription; Sana'a city; Yemen.