Objectives To determine the prevalence, patterns and determinants of drug‐related problems (DRPs) in prescribing for coronary artery diseases (CADs) in Vietnam. Methods Retrospective cross‐sectional study on outpatients with CADs at a general hospital in Can Tho, Vietnam. DRPs were classified according to Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe definitions. We determined the prevalence and patterns of DRPs. Logistic regression was used to identify the determinants of DRPs. Results Among 683 patients (mean age 63.4; 64.3% female), the prevalence of DRPs was 61.1%. DRPs comprised inappropriate indication (3.5%), inappropriate dosage (22.2%), wrong frequency of use (24.2%), wrong time of taking medications (4.1%), taking medications at the wrong time around meals (19.2%) and drug interactions (19.3%). Patients who took ≥ 5 drugs were more likely to have DRPs (adjusted odds ratio = 1.96; 95% confidence interval = 1.31–2.93). Patients without health insurance were more likely to have inappropriate indication (ORa = 2.93; 95%CI = 1.28–6.70). Taking medications at inappropriate times around meals was common among men (ORa = 1.82; 95%CI = 1.23–2.69) and among those with health insurance (ORa = 1.66; 95%CI = 1.05–2.63). Patients < 65 years old were more likely to be prescribed inappropriate doses (ORa = 1.67; 95%CI = 1.15–2.45). Prescriptions with ≥ 5 drugs were more likely to be taken at inappropriate frequency (ORa = 1.87; 95%CI = 1.09–3.21) and to cause drug interactions (ORa = 6.48; 95%CI = 2.59–16.24). Conclusions DRPs are common among patients with CADs in Vietnam. The number of DRPs increases with the number of drugs in prescriptions. Further studies should identify other potential determinants of DRPs and effective interventions to improve prescribing practice in Vietnam.

What is known and objective: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Patient education is an essential part of cardiac patients' care targeting self-management behaviour to reduce risk factors and subsequent events.There has been no Vietnamese questionnaire to assess patient's knowledge about CAD; therefore, the purpose of this study was to translate, cross-culturally adapt and validate the Coronary Artery Disease Education Questionnaire-Short Version (CADE-Q SV) for use in Vietnam.

We aimed to determine the performance of the Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) risk score version 2.0, and the long-term follow up of antithrombotic management patterns in acute coronary syndrome patients (EPICOR) risk score for predicting 1-year postdischarge mortality in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in Vietnam. A prospective cohort study was conducted on 455 patients who were discharged with an ACS diagnosis from two hospitals in Can Tho, and one in Ho Chi Minh City. Online simplified EPICOR and GRACE 2.0 calculators were used to assess the expected risk of death. We compared the performance of predicting 1-year mortality between GRACE 2.0 and EPICOR risk scores by using the Hosmer-Lemeshow test, the area under the curve (AUC), and the De-Long test. The proportions of low-risk group, moderate-risk group, and high-risk group for GRACE were 31%, 42%, and 27%, respectively. Actual mortality rates for the low, medium and high-risk groups were 3.6%, 9.4%, and 19.4%. The proportions of low-risk and high-risk patients for EPICOR were 92.0% and 8.0%, respectively. The actual mortality rate of the high-risk group was 31.4%, and of the low-risk group 8.6%. Hosmer-Lemeshow test results of the GRACE 2.0 and EPICOR were 0.337 and 0.001, respectively. The AUC results of the GRACE 2.0 and EPICOR were 0.703 and 0.752 respectively, and the De-Long test with p = 0.0532. In conclusion, the GRACE 2.0 was better than EPICOR in predicting 1-year postdischarge mortality in Vietnamese patients with ACS.