Abstract
BackgroundDrug-drug interactions (DDIs) detected in a patient may not be clinically apparent (potential DDIs), and when they occur, they produce adverse drug reactions (ADRs), toxicity or loss of treatment efficacy. In pediatrics, there are only few publications assessing potential DDIs and their risk factors. There are no studies in children admitted to emergency departments (ED). The present study estimates the prevalence and describes the characteristics of potential DDIs in patients admitted to an ED from a tertiary care hospital in Mexico; in addition, potential DDI-associated risk factors are investigated.MethodsA secondary analysis of data from 915 patients admitted to the ED of the Hospital Infantil de México “Federico Gómez” was conducted. The Medscape Drug Interaction Checker software was used to identify potential DDIs. The results are expressed as number of cases (%), means (95% CI) and medians (25-75th percentiles). Count data regressions for number of total and severity-stratified potential DDIs were performed adjusting for patient characteristics, number of administered drugs, days of stay, presence of ADRs and diagnoses.ResultsThe prevalence of potential DDIs was 61%, with a median of 4 (2–8). A proportion of 0.2% of potential DDIs was “Contraindicated”, 7.5% were classified as “Serious”, 62.8% as “Significant” and 29.5% as “Minor”. Female gender, age, days of stay, number of administered drugs and diagnoses of Neoplasms (C00-D48), Congenital malformations (Q00-Q99), Diseases of the Blood, Blood-forming Organs and Immunity (D50-D89) and Diseases of the nervous system (G00-G99) were significantly associated with potential DDIs.ConclusionThe prevalence of potential DDIs in the ED is high, and strategies should therefore be established to monitor patients’ safety during their stay, in addition to conducting investigations to estimate the real harm potential DDIs inflict on patients.
Highlights
Drugs are a tool in medical practice and constitute and important advance in pharmaceutical sciences
Among the studies that have reported potential Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) frequency and characteristics, as well as their associated risk factors in Potential drug-drug interactions in pediatric patients admitted to the emergency department the pediatric population, there wasn’t any identified that was carried out in the setting of an Emergency Department (ED), which is highly important, since especially children admitted to the emergency departments (ED) have severe, life-threatening conditions, and this is a situation that makes them more susceptible to multiple drug administration, complex treatment regimens, prolonged ED stays and care by different specialist physicians for multiple consultations [19,20]
It is important to highlight that prevalence in this work (61%) is very similar to that reported in a study that only included onco-hematological pediatric patients (56.7%) [14] in spite of the study design and the used software being different, which can be explained by the high resemblance of the study populations in both works, since onco-hematological conditions are among the main causes the Hospital Infantil de Mexico Federico Gomez (HIMFG) provides care for [27]
Summary
Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) detected in a patient may not be clinically apparent (potential DDIs), and when they occur, they produce adverse drug reactions (ADRs), toxicity or loss of treatment efficacy. There are only few publications assessing potential DDIs and their risk factors. There are no studies in children admitted to emergency departments (ED). The present study estimates the prevalence and describes the characteristics of potential DDIs in patients admitted to an ED from a tertiary care hospital in Mexico; in addition, potential DDI-associated risk factors are investigated
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
