| Summary: | Mengistie Yirsaw Gobezie,1 Hailu Birhanu Bitew,1 Abdu Tuha,1 Haftom Gebregergs Hailu2 1Department of Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia; 2Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Mekelle, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Haftom Gebregergs Hailu Tel +251912085606Fax +251344416681Email haftomphar@gmail.comObjective: To assess the prevalence and predictors of Potential drug–drug interactions (DDIs) at the chronic outpatient department of Dessie Referral Hospital, Dessie, Northeast Ethiopia.Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on the medical records of patients treated in the chronic ambulatory department of Dessie Referral Hospital (DRH), from March 1/2019 to May 30/2019. Ethical clearance was granted from the department of pharmacy, college of medicine, and health sciences, Wollo University. Lexi-comp computer program database was used to detect pDDIs. SPSS version 22 was used to produce a descriptive analysis of the background data and logistic regression to identify predictors of pDDIs.Results: In this study, the medical record of 300 patients has been reviewed and 489 pDDIs have been identified. The prevalence of pDDIs per patient was 1.63. Of all the identified pDDIs, the moderate severity interactions were the majority, 88.55% (n=433) followed by 8.38% (n=41) of minor, 2.66% (n=13) of major, and 0.41% (n=2) of contraindicated drug interactions. Taking three or more drugs at a time has been found as a statistically significant predictor of the occurrence of pDDIs.Conclusion: A high rate of moderate severity pDDIs have been recorded. A system of checks and balances should be developed and executed for all those who are involved in prescribing, dispensing, and administration of medications for effective identification and prevention of pDDIs.Keywords: patient safety, polypharmacy, prevalence, drug selection
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