Abstract :
Chronic kidney disease is a public health problem affecting people worldwide. This study was aimed to examine the characteristics of patients with chronic kidney disease and to identify prevalence of drug-related problems among Libyan patients. This is a descriptive retrospective study carried out in Southern-west part of Libya, Sebha City. Information abstraction forms were used for collection of data. The investigators reviewed the medications, medical records and laboratory data to identify drug-related problems.1 000 patients' files during 2019-2020 were examined and only 120 files were selected for this study. The majority of the participants were male (73, 61.0%) and the mean age was 56.1 years. 576 comorbidities among the selected patients were identified (73.61%) and the average number per patients was 4.8 concurrent diseases. There were 1 350 medications prescribed and the average of prescribed drugs per patient was 11.25. The majority of patients use more than 10 drugs (64, 53.3%) and the average length of staying in the hospital was 5.58 days. 502 drug-related problems were identified with an average of 4.18 per patient. Untreated conditions such as Hyponatremia and anemia were the highest rate of drug-related problems identified (199, 39.6%) followed by improper drug selection (82, 16.3%) such as cefotaxime, vancomycin and aminoglycoside for chronic kidney disease and drug use without indications such as antibiotics (68, 13.5%) and over-therapeutic dose such as metoclopramide(63, 12.5%). In conclusion, all the patients have polypharmacy and the majority have comorbid conditions and chronic kidney disease with frequent drug-related problems, thus, to lower the incidence rate of drug-related problems, therapeutic interventions are needed. Subsequently, it is a crucial to involve clinical pharmacist in hospital to improve the care of patient with chronic kidney disease.
Keyword :
Chronic kidney disease, comorbidities, drug-related problems, hospitalized patient, Libya