BackgroundType 2 diabetes (T2DM) patients with hypertension are at increased risk for experiencing drug-related problems (DRPs) since they often receive multiple medications and have multiple comorbidities. To date, there is a lack of studies conducted in T2DM patients with hypertension. This study aims to analyze the DRPs and identify factors affecting the DRPs in this patient population.MethodThis retrospective study involved T2DM patients with hypertension and was conducted at a tertiary hospital in Malaysia from January 2009 to December 2011. The assessment of DRPs was based on the Pharmaceutical Network Care Europe (PCNE) tool version 5.01.ResultsTwo hundred patients with a total of 387 DRPs were identified. Among these patients, 90.5% had at least one DRP, averaging 1.9 ± 1.2 problems per patient. The most common DRPs encountered were insufficient awareness of health and diseases (26%), drug choice problems (23%), dosing problems (16%) and drug interactions (16%). The most implicated drugs were aspirin, clopidogrel, simvastatin, amlodipine and metformin. The six domains of DRPs found to have statistically significant associations were renal impairment, polypharmacy, cardiovascular disease, elderly status, and duration of hospital stay.ConclusionsEarly identification of the types and patterns of DRPs and the factors associated to them may enhance the prevention and management of DRPs in T2DM patients with hypertension.

Objectives To assess the adherence to and identify the challenges in administering eye medications among patients with glaucoma in Malaysia. Methods This was a 1‐year cross‐sectional study conducted at the Outpatient Pharmacy Department of the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital, a public tertiary care centre. Patients with glaucoma, who self‐administered eye drops, were selected using the convenience sampling method and interviewed using the Brief Medication Questionnaire. The adherence of each patient was determined based on the total adherence score (0–1: good; 2–5 poor), while their responses to nine items describing the possible challenges in administering eye drops were dichotomized into ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Key findings One hundred patients with a mean age of 67.6 ± 10.4 years were interviewed. The majority of them were Chinese (69%) and male (56%). Approximately half of them received two types of eye medications for glaucoma. The overall adherence rate was found to be 75%, and the median adherence score was 1.00 (interquartile ranges: 1.00). However, no significant associations were found between the patient adherence and their sociodemographic characteristics. The most frequently reported challenges included ‘eye drops falling on the cheeks’ (45%), ‘too many drops coming out of the eye drop bottles each time’ (42%) and ‘having difficulty in getting the eye medications refilled at the pharmacy on time’ (25%). It is also found that experiences with side effects of medications were inversely associated with adherence (odds ratio (OR): 0.12; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.02–0.76; P = 0.024), while inconvenient administration times led to a higher risk of nonadherence (OR: 14.17; 95% CI: 3.49–57.63; P < 0.001). Conclusions Nonadherence to eye medications was shown to be a major challenge in glaucoma treatment in Malaysia. Interventions to strengthen the patients’ commitment to the long‐term treatment, as well as their knowledge of the medications, are therefore warranted.