ArticleJournal of pharmaceutical policy and practice2022
Polypharmacy and the occurrence of potential drug-drug interactions among geriatric patients at the outpatient pharmacy department of a regional hospital in Durban, South Africa.
Article in Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Drug-drug interaction among elderly patients in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC pharmacology & toxicology · 2025Pooled it
- Prevalence of potential drug‒drug interactions and associated factors among elderly patients in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Global health research and policy · 2024Pooled it
- Prescribers' experiences regarding deprescribing of polypharmacy at selected district hospitals in Gauteng province, South Africa.Health SA = SA Gesondheid · 2026Article
- Polypharmacy among adults receiving outpatient care at Kitgum General Hospital, Northern Uganda.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Article
- Prescription Patterns of Inducers and Inhibitors of Cytochrome P450 and Their Potential Drug Interactions in the Real World: A Cross-Sectional Study.Drugs - real world outcomes · 2024Article
- Medication adherence in geriatric patients attending medical outpatient department.South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care · 2024Article
- Relationship between the number of drugs used during percutaneous coronary intervention and adverse events in patients with chronic coronary syndrome: Analysis of CLIDAS database.International journal of cardiology. Heart & vasculature · 2024Article
- The Prevalence and Severity of Potential Drug-Drug Interactions in Internal Medicine Ward at Soba Teaching Hospital.Drug, healthcare and patient safety · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPolypharmacy is the administration of an excessive number of medicines and a significant irrational medicine use practice. Little is known about this practice in South Africa. This study aimed to determine the level of polypharmacy and potential drug-drug interactions amongst the geriatric patient population in a facility in South Africa.
methodA cross-sectional retrospective prescription chart review for 250 geriatric patients was conducted at the outpatient pharmacy department of a regional hospital. Variables extracted included demographic information, diagnosis, type of prescriber contact, and polypharmacy. Potential drug-drug interactions were determined with web-based multi-drug interaction checkers.
resultsThe average (SD) number of diagnosed clinical problems was 3.54 ± 1.26, with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and heart disease occurring most frequently. The level of polypharmacy was high with patients receiving an average (SD) of 12.13 ± 4.25 prescribed medicines from 3032 prescribed medicines. The level of polypharmacy was highest within the age categories, 60-64, and 70-74 years of age, respectively. The level of potential drug-drug interactions was also high with an average (SD) of 10.30 ± 7.48 from 2570 potential drug interactions. The majority of these interactions were moderate (72.5%) and pharmacodynamic (73.2%) by nature of the clinical severity of action and mechanism of action, respectively. Polypharmacy and type of prescriber contact were statistically significant contributors to the occurrence of potential drug-drug interactions, (F (2, 249) = 68.057, p < 0.05). However, in a multivariate analysis of variables to determine the strength of the association, polypharmacy was determined to be the strongest contributor to the occurrence of potential drug-drug interactions (p < 0.05) when compared with the type of prescriber contact (p value = 0.467). Therefore, irrespective of the type of prescriber contact, polypharmacy increases the potential for drug interactions among the sampled patient population.
conclusionA comprehensive consideration of disease management guidelines, patient factors, and rational medicine review could be measurable strategies towards improving medicine use. This would also limit the occurrence of significant drug interactions among the geriatric patient population. A national study is required to determine if differences occur across hospitals and regions.
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