Awareness, actions, and predictors of actions on adverse drug reaction
reporting among patients attending a referral hospital in southern
highland Tanzania
Abstract
Purpose: This study assessed the awareness, actions, and
predictors of actions on adverse drug reaction reporting among patients
attending a referral hospital in southern highland Tanzania.
Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was from
January to August 2022 at Mbeya Zonal Referral Hospital (MZRH) in Mbeya,
Tanzania. A total of 792 adult patients with chronic conditions
attending outpatient clinics at MZRH were recruited consecutively. A
semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect demographic
characteristics, ADR awareness, and actions when encountering ADR. Data
were analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS)
version 23 and results are summarized using frequency and percentages.
Binary logistic regression was used to assess the predictors associated
with reporting ADR among patients. P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered
statistically significant. Results: Out of 792, 397(50.1%)
were males and 383(48.4%) had a primary education level. Only
171(21.6%) participants previously experienced ADR and 111(14.1%) were
aware that ADR is an unexpected harm that occurs after medication use.
The majority 597(70.3%) of the participants said will report ADR to
healthcare providers, 706(88.9%) prefer reporting ADR to healthcare
providers and 558(69.1%) said patients are not aware of the importance
of reporting ADR. Patients aged below 65 years of age, unemployed ((AOR
(95%CI) =0.4(0.18 – 0.87), self-employed ((AOR(95%CI) =0.5(0.32 –
0.83)), and those who ever encountered ADR ((AOR(95%CI) =0.1(0.05 –
0.11)), were more likely to report the ADR to HCPs compared to the rest.
Conclusions: The majority of patients are not aware of what is
ADR and the importance of ADR reporting. Most of the patients prefer to
report ADR to healthcare providers. We recommend an awareness campaign
to raise awareness of the patients on ADR and other methods of ADR
reporting.