A Prospective Observational Study to Find out Prevalence of Polypharmacy, Co-Morbidities and Drug-Related Problems among Type 2 Diabetes Patients at a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital

Background: Presently India, depicts 49% of the world’s diabetes burden, with an approximated 72 million cases in 2017. Comorbidities make type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM) management complicated for health care providers. Therefore, patients have been prescribed multiple drugs. As a result of polypharmacy, the chances of the occurrence of drug-related problems (DRPs) increase.

Objective: The present study aimed to find out the prevalence of comorbidities, polypharmacy, and drug-related problems among type 2 DM patients.

Methodology: A prospective observational study was conducted for six months among 110 patients having type 2 DM. Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria data were collected. All collected cases were analysed for the number of medications prescribed and comorbidities present. Prescriptions were further assessed to find out the drug-related problem.

Results: Comparing the gender proportionality, male represents 59% (n=65) and female represents 41% (n=45) of the study population. The present study evaluated that 91% (n=100) of patients were having at least one comorbid condition or complication along with diabetes, the most common being cardiovascular disorders. The average number of drugs prescribed is 7.86±7.83 per patient. Polypharmacy was observed in 84.54% (n=93) of the patients. A total of 180 DRPs were found among 110 patients.

Conclusion: The present study concluded that the increase in the number of co-morbidities significantly increases the burden of polypharmacy which can further lead to DRPs. Reducing the number of pills and the presence of a clinical pharmacist in prescription monitoring can help to alleviate the problems of polypharmacy and its consequences.