Potential Drug–Drug Interaction among Pediatric Patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract Objective: This study aims to identify the prevalence of drug–drug interactions among admitted pediatric patients, identify risk factors, and classify and identify the most common drug–drug interactions. Materials and Methods: A retrospective observational cross-sectional study was conducted on neonatal and pediatric patients, 12 years or younger, admitted in or during December 2022. The data were collected by reviewing the medical files of the patients; subsequently, the number of pDDIs of co-administered medications was assessed using Lexicomp version 8.2.0. Results: Out of 395 patients, 162 (41%) were associated with having at least one pDDI. About 37%, 20%, and 43% were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), and pediatric wards, respectively. The factors significantly linked with pDDIs were age, admission ward, diagnosis, length of stay, and the total number of drugs prescribed during admission. Moderate pDDIs were the most prevalent, 486 (72.1%); followed by minor pDDIs, 124 (18.4%); and then major pDDIs 64 (9.5%) with no contraindicated pDDIs encountered. The most prevalent major pDDIs were fentanyl + midazolam 15 (2.23%), while the most frequent moderate pDDIs were methylprednisolone + salbutamol 54 (8.01%), and ondansetron + paracetamol 32 (4.75%) was the most recurring minor pDDIs. Conclusion: The factors that were found to be significantly linked with pDDIs were age, admission ward, diagnosis, length of stay, and the total number of drugs prescribed during admission. Thus, further investigation of these factors is essential in mitigating pDDIs in admitted pediatrics.