A Questionnaire Study of Food – Drug Interactions to Assess Knowledge of People from Diverse Backgrounds

Background: Food drug interactions contribute a major reason for drug interactions but they are neglected due to less knowledge and awareness on it.

Objective: To assess the awareness about food drug interactions among various individuals from diverse backgrounds.

Methodology: This is the prospective questionnaire study comprising of 12 questions, each question have both right and wrong options, where as the last question is opinion based. The questionnaire was formatted in a simple and easy manner for the understanding of individuals from non-medical field. These forms were circulated online and the responses were collected.

Results: Thirty nine out of forty five responses from doctors were valid in which 65.55% were correct, 23.46% were wrong and 9.66% were unaware, similarly out of thirty three, twenty four responses from nurses were valid in which 44.07% were correct, 49.72% were wrong and 5.65% were unaware. From a total of 102 responses from clinical pharmacologists 81 were valid in which 72.27% were correct, 24.75% were wrong and 0.99% was unaware.

Discussion: Geriatric population is highly susceptible to food drug interactions due to polypharmacy and altered levels in absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination. The study was successful in assessing the knowledge about food drug interactions in individuals from diverse backgrounds.

Conclusion: The clinical pharmacologists had more awareness on food drug interaction than doctors and nurses. The study findings support the need for nurses and doctors to update their practice through additional training and integration of knowledge and expertise about food drug interactions to improve the therapeutic efficacy, drug compliance and safety of patients.