Abstract
BACKGROUND: Over the past few decades, drug therapy problems (DTPs) have become a significant public health concern worldwide. DTPs in patients with diabetes are responsible for uncontrolled glycemia, disease worsening, early development of complications, high healthcare expenses, prolonged and recurrent hospitalizations, and mortality. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to identify the prevalence of drug therapy problems and determine the associated factors among patients with type II Diabetes Mellitus at a University Teaching Hospital in Southwest Ethiopia. METHODOLOGY: Hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted between September and October 2022. Data were collected through medical record reviews and interviewer-administered structured questionnaires, which were then analyzed using SPSS version 26. Cipolle's method was adapted for classification of DTPs. Bivariate followed by multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between predictor variables and the outcome variable. P-value ≤ 0.05 was employed as a cut-off point to determine statistical significance. RESULT: Among 117 participants, 172 drug therapy problems (DTPs) were identified, with an average of 1.47 DTPs per patient, and83 (70.9%) participants had at least one type of drug therapy problem. Of the seven DTPs identified, need additional drug therapy was the most common, 50 (42.7%), followed by non-compliance with medication, 45 (38.5%) and ineffective drug therapy, 25 (21.4%). Occupational status and comorbidity were factors that associated with the occurrence of DTPs. Farmers were approximately four times more likely to develop DTPs than housewives were (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 3.56, 95% CI: 1.12-11.38, P = 0.03). The odds of drug therapy problems were twice as high in those with four comorbid conditions than in those without comorbidities (AOR = 1.95, 95% CI: 0.90-3.76, p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: In the current study, the proportion of type 2 diabetes patients with drug therapy problems was high. This potentially lead to uncontrolled glycemia and early development of comorbid conditions, increasing morbidity and mortality rates. This could be attributed to the failure to effectively integrate clinical pharmacy services in different hospital wards, which is the case in virtually all hospitals in Ethiopia.