Avoiding concomitant prescription of drugs with a potential for interaction: mission impossible?
Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther
; 48(12): 821-9, 2010 Dec.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-21084038
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
The increased prevalence of multi-drug therapy increases the risk of drug interactions. We conducted a study with the aim of evaluating the prevalence of prescribing potentially interacting drug combinations, their severity, mechanism, and in particular, their clinical relevance, in medical inpatients at two Croatian university hospitals.METHODS:
A cross-sectional study was conducted that included all medical inpatients receiving >= 2 drugs. Data were analyzed for 200 predefined drug-drug combinations compiled from the Micromedex data-base and literature. Two rating scales were used, one indicating the severity of a potential drug-drug interaction (pDDI) (minor, moderate, major), and the other assessing its clinical relevance (1 contraindicated; 2 avoidable; 3 consider risk-benefit ratio; 4 hardly avoidable).RESULTS:
The prescribing patterns were similar between evaluated hospitals. The prevalence of pDDIs was 46%. The mean number of drugs prescribed per patient was 6.2 (± 95% CI 5.9 - 6.5). Out of 200 predefined pDDIs, 96 were found in our study population with mean 2.8 pDDIs per patient (± 95% CI 2.4 - 3.1). Out of 478 single identified pDDIs, most were of moderate and major severity (56% and 33%, respectively). However, only 9% out of them were considered completely avoidable, 57% were considered hardly avoidable, and for 35% the consideration of risk-benefit ratio was recommended. Most pDDIs were classified as pharmacodynamic by mechanism of interaction (45%). Age and number of prescribed drugs were significant risk factors for prescription of potentially interacting drug combinations (OR 1.01 (± 95% CI 1.001 - 1.03) and OR 1.46 (± 95% CI 1.33 - 1.59), respectively).CONCLUSIONS:
Despite the high prevalence of pDDIs, only 1 in 10 was considered avoidable.
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Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Interacciones Farmacológicas
Tipo de estudio:
Etiology_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Límite:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Child
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther
Asunto de la revista:
FARMACOLOGIA
/
TERAPIA POR MEDICAMENTOS
Año:
2010
Tipo del documento:
Article