Abstract

Chronic kidney disease patients have multiple associated co- morbidities and hence they receive complex drug regimen which will increases the risk for drug-drug interactions. The present study was to assess the pattern of potential drug-drug interactions in chronic kidney disease patients in nephrology department of Justice K S Hegde Hospital, Mangalore, Karnataka, India.It was prospective observational study was carried out for a period of eight months from June 2015 to February 2015. A total of 150 patients of nephrology department were included in the study. A total of 365 drug-drug interactions were identified from 87 patients with male (77.1%) predominance over females (23.1%). The average age of the patients was found to be 21.01 ± 78.01 years. According to severity classification 244(66.80%) moderate interactions were most common. Among the interactions 116 (31.70%) were of delayed onset and 74(20.27%) were of rapid onset. According to significance 48(13.15%) were excellent, 148(40.54%) were good, 141 (38.63%) were fair, 13(3.56%) were poor and 11(3.61%) were unlikely. aspirin +clopidogrel 25(12.25%) was the most frequently prescribed drug combination which caused moderate drug interactions. 30(22.3%) hypertension 13(9.70%) was the most clinically reported outcomes of drug-drug interactions. The study highlights the need of intense monitoring of drug therapy by clinical pharmacist in patient with chronic kidney diseases. This will help in achieving better therapeutic outcome, improve the quality of care and limit the adverse outcomes associated with drug interactions.