Discipline of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Health Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, P B X54001 Durban 4000 South Africa.
Department of Public Health, School of Nursing & Public Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, P B X54001 Durban 4000 South Africa.
Afr Health Sci. 2022 Mar;22(1):681-690. doi: 10.4314/ahs.v22i1.79.
Drug-food interactions can lead to adverse drug reactions and therapy failure which can potentially impact patient safety and therapy outcome.
This study assessed patients' knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding drug-food interactions.
A cross-sectional study was conducted among patients at three public hospitals in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS® version 25. The association between demographic variables and patients' knowledge, attitudes and practices were assessed.
Of the 342 patients, 70.5% were female, and the mean age was 42.87±0.89 years. Almost 50% of patients had secondary level education, and 64% were unemployed. About 52% of patients had high knowledge of drug-food interactions; however, only 30-50% of the patients could identify potential drug-food interactions of their drugs. More than half of the patients (51.5%) answered that they took multivitamin pills with medications and 61.7% responded they consulted healthcare professionals for drug-food interactions' information before taking new medications. Few patients (15.2%) had experienced drug-food interactions.
Overall, patients had gaps in their knowledge and practices, and positive attitudes towards drug-food interactions. Many patients could not identify food items that can potentially interact with their drugs. It is important that education and medication counselling are provided to patients to prevent drug-food interactions, ensure optimal drug therapy and patient safety.
药物-食物相互作用可导致不良反应和治疗失败，从而可能影响患者安全和治疗效果。
本研究评估了患者对药物-食物相互作用的知识、态度和实践情况。
在夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省埃滕哈赫温的三家公立医院进行了一项横断面研究。使用 SPSS® 版本 25 进行统计分析。评估了人口统计学变量与患者知识、态度和实践之间的关系。
在 342 名患者中，70.5%为女性，平均年龄为 42.87±0.89 岁。近 50%的患者接受过中学教育，64%的患者失业。约 52%的患者对药物-食物相互作用有较高的认识；然而，只有 30-50%的患者能够识别出其药物的潜在药物-食物相互作用。超过一半的患者（51.5%）回答他们在服用药物时同时服用多种维生素片，61.7%的患者在服用新药前会咨询医疗保健专业人员以获取药物-食物相互作用的信息。少数患者（15.2%）经历过药物-食物相互作用。
总体而言，患者在知识和实践方面存在差距，但对药物-食物相互作用持积极态度。许多患者无法识别可能与他们的药物相互作用的食物。向患者提供教育和药物咨询以预防药物-食物相互作用、确保最佳药物治疗和患者安全非常重要。
