KUMJ | VOL. 24 | NO. 3 | ISSUE 96 | JULY-SEPTEMBER, 2026

Study on Medication Use Pattern and Prevalence of Potential Drug-Drug Interactions among Chronic Kidney Disease Patients
Paudel N, Khanal P, KC B, Shakya R

Abstract:
Background Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a significant public health issue, due to its rising incidence, prevalence, and associated economic burden. Patients with chronic kidney diseasefrequently require the use of multiple medications due to their various comorbid conditions. When a patient takes multiple medications at the same time, there is a higher chance of drug-drug interactions (DDIs). This could be linked to higher rates of morbidity, mortality, length of hospital stays, and expense of medical care. Objective To evaluate the prevalence of potential drug-drug interactions and the medication use patterns among chronic kidney disease patients admitted to the nephrology unit. Method This study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in western Nepal, where the data of 180 patients from the medical record section was collected who were previously admitted from January 2020 to December 2021 at the nephrology ward. The patient’s demographic profile and medication prescribed were collected in the patients’ data collection form and potential drug-drug interactions (pDDIs) were checked from the Medscape interaction checker. Data analysis was done from Microsoft Excel 2019 and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Result A total of 1527 medicines were prescribed among 180 patients, the mean number of medicines per prescription was 8.5±3.1. The most commonly prescribed individual medicine was torsemide, ranitidine, and amlodipine. The prevalence of potential drug-drug interactions was 86.6%. Out of a total of 786 pDDIs, 4(0.5%) were contraindicated, 42(5.3%) were serious, and 527(67%) were moderate while 213(27.1%) were minor. The most frequently seen potential drug-drug interactions in our study were between sodium bicarbonate and ferrous salt in 36.1% of patients. Conclusion Chronic kidney disease patients in this study were prescribed with higher number of medications and the prevalence of potential drug-drug interactions was high.
Keyword : Chronic kidney disease, Medication use pattern, Potential drug-drug Interaction