Abstract
Background Oncological patients are at high risk for drug–drug interactions (DDIs), which may contribute to therapeutic failure or lead to serious adverse events. Objective To determine the prevalence of potential DDIs in medication lists, to describe the most frequent DDIs and to investigate the possible risk factors associated with them. A prospective cohort study was performed at the Oncology Department of a tertiary hospital over a 12-week period. Twice a week, every inpatient’s treatment sheet was collected and screened through two databases: Micromedex™ and Drug Interaction Facts™. All identified potential DDIs with a moderate or higher severity rating were recorded. Multivariate analysis was used to identify risk factors associated with DDIs. Result A total of 1956 DDIs were detected in 699 treatment sheets. The prevalence of treatment sheets with DDIs was 81.0 % and 32.6 % by Micromedex™ and Drug Interaction Facts™, respectively. Central nervous depressant agents and antiemetics were the most commonly involved groups in DDIs. A higher number of non-antineoplastic drugs was related with potential DDIs [adjusted-OR 1.398 and 1.613 by Micromedex™ and Drug Interaction Facts™, respectively]. Conclusion The prevalence of potential DDIs was widely variable among databases. The main risk factor associated with DDIs was a higher number of non-antineoplastic medicines.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Reimche L, Forster AJ, van Walraven C. Incidence and contributors to potential drug–drug interactions in hospitalized patients. J Clin Pharmacol. 2011;51:1043–50.
Riechelmann RP, Zimmermann C, Chin SN, Wang L, O’Carroll A, Zarinehbaf S, et al. Potential drug interactions in cancer patients receiving palliative care exclusively. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2008;35:535–43.
Riechelmann RP, Tannock IF, Wang L, Saad ED, Taback NA, Krzyzanowska MK. Potential drug interactions and duplicate prescriptions among cancer patients. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2007;99:592–600.
Tavakoli-Ardakani M, Kazemian K, Salamzadeh J, Mehdizadeh M. Potential of drug interactions among hospitalized cancer patients in a developing country. Iran J Pharm Res. 2013;12(suppl):175–82.
Riechelmann RP, Moreira F, Smaletz O, Saad ED. Potential for drug interactions in hospitalized cancer patients. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2005;56:286–90.
de Fernández Palencia Espinosa MA, Díaz Carrasco MS, Fuster Soler JL, Ruíz Merino G, De la Rubia Nieto MA, Espuny Miró A. Pharmacoepidemiological study of drug–drug interactions in onco-hematological pediatric patients. Int J Clin Pharm. 2014;36:1160–9.
Micromedex healthcare series: interactions (updated periodically). Thomson Reuters (Healthcare) Inc. http://www.micromedexsolutions.com/home/dispatch. Accessed 01 Dec 2014.
Tatro DS. Drug interaction facts. The authority on drug interactions. St Louis: Ed. Wolters Kluwer Health; 2012. ISBN: 978-1-57439-331-6.
Kannan G, Anitha R, Vanitha Rani N, Thennarasu P, Alosh J, Vasantha J, et al. A study of drug–drug interactions in cancer patients of a south Indian tertiary care teaching. J Postgrad Med. 2011;57:206–10.
Hadjibabaie M, Badri S, Ataei S, Moslehi AH, Karimzadeh I, Ghavamzadeh A. Potential drug–drug interactions at a referral hematology–oncology ward in Iran: a cross-sectional study. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2013;71:1619–27.
Funding
The study received no special funding.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflicts of interest
None.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fernández de Palencia Espinosa, M.Á., Díaz Carrasco, M.S., Alonso Romero, J.L. et al. Potential drug–drug interactions in oncological adult inpatients at a Spanish hospital: epidemiology and risk factors. Int J Clin Pharm 37, 1021–1027 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-015-0195-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-015-0195-z