European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

STUDY ON POTENTIAL DRUG-DRUG INTERACTIONS THROUGH PRESCRIPTION AUDIT WITH AID OF DRUG INTERACTION CHECKERS: PROSPECTIVE OBSERVATIONAL

A. Santhi Sri*, Sai Theja Guduru, K. Gunavardhan, Y. Navya, C. Usha Sree and P. Varshitha

ABSTRACT

Introduction: A drug- drug interaction is a pharmacological or clinical response to the administration of two or more drugs which is different from the response triggered by the individual use of these agents. The risk of drug-drug interactions with increases exponentially with number of drugs prescribed and is estimated of approximately 6% when 2 to 4 drugs are used, 50% when 5 drugs and nearly 100% when 8 drugs are prescribed. Drug interactions can occur both in-vivo and in-vitro. Drug interactions outside the body can occur when different drugs are mixed in an intravenous infusion. Poly therapy increases the complexity of the therapeutic management and there by the risk of clinically important drug -drug interactions which can both induce the development of adverse drug reaction or reduce the clinical efficacy. In general, a drug is a chemical substance meant for rectifying the altered physiological condition in the body. But currently drugs are becoming an important entity in the daily life of many individuals as the use of poly medication is increasing irrespective of rationality. Whatever it may be the cause for poly-medication, each and every drug encounters when they are concomitantly administered. Methodology: A Prospective observational study was conducted in the general medicine department of Simhapuri Superspeciality Hospital, Nellore. Results: A total of 1436 drug-drug interactions were detected in 409 prescriptions. Of these,688 were minor, followed by moderate 464 and 284 major interactions .Among these total drug interactions 1064 interactions were rectified by the physician and rest of the drug interactions were ignored. Conclusion: Our study on drug-drug interactions helps in assessing the prevalence of potential drug-drug interactions and reducing their risk and adverse consequences also helps in focusing on the rational prescription of drugs.

Keywords: Drug-drug interactions, Polymedication, polypharmacy, co-morbidities.