Table 3 Types of drug-related problems and causes among ambulatory thyroid disease patients who have a follow-up in selected hospitals of Northwest Ethiopia, from July 01-Sept 30, 2022, (n = 351).

From: Drug related problems and associated factors among thyroid disorder patients in Northwest Ethiopia

Type of DRPs

Related causes

Frequency N (%)

Unnecessary drug therapy

No clear indication of drug use

7 (70.00)

Drug therapy is being taken to treat an avoidable adverse reaction associated with another medication

3 (30.00)

Need additional drug therapy

A medical condition requires the initiation of drugs

6 (50.00)

Prophylactic/preventive drug therapy

2 (16.67)

Drugs not taken /administered at all

4 (33.33)

Ineffective Drug

Not most effective for the indication being treated

11 (39.29)

prescribed effective drug not available

17 (60.71)

Dose too low

The dose is too low to produce the desired response

20 (95.24)

Drug underused/ under administered

1 (4.76)

Dose too high

The duration of the drug therapy is too long

24 (88.89)

Drug overused/over administered

3 (11.11)

Adverse drug reaction (Naranjo Algorithm - ADR Probability Scale)

Definitive ≥ 9

8 (13.56)

Probable 5–8

31 (52.54)

Possible 1–4

14 (23.73)

Doubtful − 4 − 0

6 (10.17)

Causes of Adverse Drug Reaction

The drug product causes an undesirable reaction that is dose-related

41 (69.49)

A drug interaction causes an undesirable reaction that is not dose-related

15 (25.42)

A safer drug product is required due to risk factors

3 (5.08)

Non Adherence

Low adherence

121 (34.47)

Non-adherence reason

Simply forgetfulness

68 (36.56)

Inadequate instruction

34 (18.28)

Inadequate availability of medication

32 (17.20)

Fear of medication adverse events

18 (9.68)

Feeling better or worse

10 (5.38)

Due to workload/busy

9 (4.84)

The patient prefers not to take

5 (2.69)

The cost of medication to expensive

5 (2.69)

Regimen complexity

3 (1.61)

Disbelief in drug effectiveness

1 ( 0.54)

Difficulty of administration

1 (0.54)