Evaluation of potential drug-drug interactions and associated factors among hospitalized pediatric patients in Adigrat general hospital, Tigrai, north Ethiopia: a retrospective cross-sectional study

Abstract Background Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) are associated with increased adverse and decreased therapeutic effects. Hospitalized pediatric patients are exposed to a number of potential DDIs (pDDIs). There are limited studies on pDDIs among pediatric patients in Ethiopia. This study was carried out to evaluate the pDDIs and associated factors among hospitalized pediatric patients in Adigrat general hospital, Tigrai, northern Ethiopia. Methods A retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out among hospitalized pediatric patients in Adigrat general hospital from 01 July to 31 August 2020. A simple random sampling technique was used to select medical charts. Micromedex 2.0 database was used to screen pDDIs. Data was analyzed using statistical package for social science version 21 and a P-value of ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Of the total 146 patients studied, 100 (68.5%) were exposed for at least one pDDI. A total of 158 pDDIs consisting of 33 distinct interacting drug pairs were identified, with a mean number of 4.79 (1\(-\)6) pDDIs per patient in this subpopulation. About 19.3% of the patients had at least one major pDDI, 6.7% at least one moderate and 68.9% at least one minor pDDIs; 63.3% were minor and 25.9% major while 3. 8% were contraindicated pDDIs with 15.2% fair and 81.6% good level of documentation. On the other hand, majority (62.0%) of the pDDIs were of delayed onset. The overall mean duration of pDDIs exposure was about 4.9 (1\(-\)23) days. Infant/toddler age group (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 31.961, 95% CI: 1.117\(-\)914.528), number of diseases (AOR = 0.255, 95% CI: 0.069\(-\)0.939) and polypharmacy (AOR = 0.276, 95% CI: 0.091\(-\)0.838) were associated with the occurrence of pDDIs. Conclusions A substantial number of the pediatric patients were exposed to a various pDDIs. Age, number of diseases and polypharmacy predicted for the occurrence of pDDIs. Clinicians should remain vigilant to the pDDIs in order to prevent the potential clinical consequences of pDDIs. Moreover, computerized drug interaction screening programs should be practiced to improve patients’ safety and outcomes of therapy.