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194 Shegena et al. | Journal of Clinical and Translational Research 2024; 10(3): 191-200
Table 1. Socio-demographic characteristics of hospitalized heart 140
failure patients at the MRRH 118 Number of patients % of patients
Variable n (%) 120 100
Age (years) 100
≤18 26 (22) 80
19 – 59 48 (40.7) Number and % of patients 60 53 44.9 48
≥60 44 (37.3) 40 40.6 26 25
Sex 20 22.03 21.1 12
Male 46 (39) 0 10.2 8 6.7 4 3.4 4 3.4 2 1.7
Female 72 (61)
Educational status Various
No formal education 53 (44.9) Anti-parasitic products
Primary 53 (44.9) Cardiovascular system drugs Anti-infective for systemic use Nervous system agents Blood and blood forming agents Respiratory system agents Systemic hormonal preparations
Secondary and above 12 (10.2) Alimentary tract and metabolism agents
Occupation Genito-urinary system and sex hormones
Unemployed 42 (35.6)
Self-employed/private business 71 (60.2)
Formally employed 5 (4.2)
History of alcohol use 33 (28.0)
Abbreviation: OTC: Over-the-counter. Figure 1. Common medications used among hospitalized heart failure
patients at the Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital.
Table 2. Clinical characteristics and medication use of hospitalized
HF patients at the MRRH 38 (66.7%) had one, 15 (26.3%) had two, 3 (5.2%) had three,
Variable n (%) and 1 (1.8%) had four DTPs.
Status of HF 3.4. Types and causes of DTPs related to cardiovascular
New 56 (47.5) agents
Known 59 (52.5)
Previous hospital admission 78 (66.1) “Dosage too high” (23 [28.3%]) was the most common
Length of hospital stay (days) type of DTP related to cardiovascular agents, followed by
≤5 27 (22.9) “needs additional drug therapy” (22 [27.2%]) (Figure 4). For
6 – 10 59 (50) the “dosage too high” classification, the medication dose being
≥11 32 (27.1) too high was the most common cause, identified for 19 (23.5%)
Total comorbidities 93 (78.8) patients. For the “needs additional drug therapy” classification,
Number of comorbidities an untreated condition was the most common, identified for
1 56 (60.2) 15 (18.5%) patients (Table 3).
≥2 37 (39.8)
Major comorbid conditions 3.5. Factors associated with the occurrence of DTPs
Hypertension 37 (31.4) A total of 14 independent factors were analyzed using
Kidney disease 23 (19.5) univariate logistic regression. Among these variables, age
Anemia 18 (15.3) ≥60 years (crude odds ratio [COR]: 4.8; 95% CI: [2.1 – 10.6];
Counseling on medication use 107 (90.7) P = 0.003), gender, occupation, previous hospital admission,
OTC medication use within the past 4 weeks 42 (35.6) length of hospital stay >11 days (COR: 4.1; 95% CI: [1.4 –
Herbal use within the past 4 weeks 52 (44.1) 10.7]; P = 0.012), comorbidity, herbal use within the previous
Poly-pharmacy 75 (63.5) 4 weeks, and poly-pharmacy were qualified for multivariate
Significant drug-drug interaction 79 (66.9) logistic regression analysis at P = 0.25 (Table 4).
Treatment affordability 18 (15.3) According to the multivariate logistic regression, elderly
Abbreviations: HF: Heart failure; MRRH: Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital; patients >60 years old were four times more likely to experience
OTC: Over-the-counter. DTPs related to cardiovascular agents compared to the
pediatrics group (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 4.1; 95% CI: [1.5
3.3. Prevalence of DTPs related to cardiovascular drugs – 10.3]; P = 0.012). Patients who were taking more than five
Out of the 118 patients, 57 had at least one DTP during medications during their hospital stay were three times more
their hospital stay, corresponding to a prevalence of 48.3% likely to experience DTPs related to cardiovascular agents than
(95% CI: 39 – 56.8%) (Figure 3). A total of 81 DTPs related those who were taking less than five medications (AOR: 2.92;
to cardiovascular agents were identified among the 57 patients: 95% CI: [1.5 – 7.6]; P = 0.029) (Table 4).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36922/jctr.23.00137