Abstract

LOPEZ VAZQUEZ, P. et al. Drug interactions in the prescription of medical patients at hospital discharge. An. Med. Interna (Madrid) [online]. 2005, vol.22, n.2, pp.25-31. ISSN 0212-7199.

Objectives: To detect and evaluate the clinical significance of drugs interactions in patients discharged from hospital. Material and methods: We retrospectively screened the medication for potential drug interactions of 412 patients discharged. Interactions were catalogued according to clinical importance following the Hansten and Horn's classification. Results: Three hundred twenty-nine potential interactions were detected. The 39.9% of the patients had at least one potentially interacting drug combination. The 52.6% of the interactions were catalogued as Class 3, bearing in mind minimizing the risk of the interaction. We did not find any Class 1 or 2 interactions, which have potentially major severity. Oral anticoagulants and digoxin were the most frequently implicated drugs. The patient monitoring was well done in the 100% of the interactions of Oral anticoagulants with other drug, but in the interactions of digoxin with another, this control was not done adequately. One patient was re-hospitalised due to high levels of digoxin, he had been discharged with two potential interactions. Conclusions: The frequently of potential drug interactions in medical patients at hospital discharged was high, but the clinical significance appear to be low.

Keywords : Drug Interactions; Prescriptions; Drug utilization studies.

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