Frequency of polypharmacy and drug interactions in inpatients in the emergency department, Southwest of Iran

Submitted: 4 May 2020
Accepted: 5 February 2021
Published: 18 March 2021
Abstract Views: 3788
PDF: 340
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

This study aimed to evaluate the polypharmacy extent and the frequency and severity of drug interactions by evaluating inpatients in the emergency department. In this epidemiologicaldescriptive study, data were collected retrospectively by reviewing medical records of 92 hospitalized patients in the emergency department with a stay over 48 hours. Out of the study population, 54.3% and 45.7% were respectively male and female, with a mean age of 59.09. In terms of hospitalization, 27.2% and 16.3% were hospitalized due to heart problems and trauma, respectively and the mean length of hospitalization was 3.91 with a standard deviation of 2.57 days. The mean drug received was 8.48, with a standard deviation of 4.48. Of the patients, 81.5% received more than 5 drugs; in addition, the observed amounts of drug interactions of A, B, C, D, and X were 2.5%, 17%, 59.3%, 19.5%, and 1.9%, respectively. The drug interaction prevalence in inpatients in the emergency department was high. The presence of a pharmacist is necessary to identify drug interactions and reduce drug-therapy problems to provide quality services.

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

Moghadam Nia A, ZahedPasha Y, Mir Blooki M, et al. An analysis of prescription indices of Babol general practitioners prescriptions, 1999. J Babol Univ Med Sci 2000, 2:21-26.
Dolatabadi M, Jalili RH. Patterns of physicians’drug preh1ion in sabzevar iran (2008). J Sabzevar Uni Med Sci 2009;16:161-6.
Ludgate J, Keating J, O'Dwyer R, et al. An improvement in cognitive function following polypharmacy reduction in a group of epileptic patients. Acta Neurol Scand 1985;71:448-52. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0404.1985.tb03227.x
Preskorn SH. Mania in a Case of Polypsychopharmacology: Pharmacodynamic and Pharmacokinetic Considerations Do You Believe in Magic? J Psychiatr Pract 2007;13:178-83. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/01.pra.0000271659.94468.d6
Preskorn SH. Multiple medication use presenting as Parkinson's dementia complex: A message from Titanic. J Psychiatr Pract 2008;14:45-54. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/01.pra.0000308494.00628.0a
Boparai MK, Korc‐Grodzicki B. Prescribing for older adults. Mt Sinai J Med 2011;78:613-26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/msj.20278
Heuberger RA, Caudell K. Polypharmacy and nutritional status in older adults. Drugs Aging 2011, 28:315-23. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2165/11587670-000000000-00000
Kaufman DW, Kelly JP, Rosenberg L, et al. Recent patterns of medication use in the ambulatory adult population of the United States: the Slone survey. JAMA 2002, 287:337-44. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.287.3.337
Khouri V, Semnani S, Roushandel G. Frequency distribution of drug interactions and some of related factors in prescriptions. 2006. Med J Tabriz Uni Med Sci 2006;27:29-32.
Esteghamat SS, Bastani F, Kazemi H, et al. Potential drug interactions in war-injured veterans with psychaitric disorders. 2011. Iran J War Public Health 2012;4:24-31.
McCarthy ML, Zeger SL, Ding R, et al. Crowding delays treatment and lengthens emergency department length of stay, even among high-acuity patients. Ann Emerg Med 2009;54:492-503. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2009.03.006
Gentile S, Vignally P, Durand A-C, et al. Nonurgent patients in the emergency department? A French formula to prevent misuse. BMC Health Serv Res 2010;10:66. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-10-66
Rahimi B, Gharabaghi N, Hesari Z, et al. Prevalence of potential drug interactions in patients in the intensive care unit of Urmia Taleghani hospital. Urmia Med J 2013;24:133-45.
Roblek T, Deticek A, Leskovar B, et al, Clinical-pharmacist intervention reduces clinically relevant drug–drug interactions in patients with heart failure: a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial. Int J Cardiol 2016;203:647-652. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcard.2015.10.206
Torkashvand M, Esnaashari F, Mehrpoya M, et al. Evaluation of Potential Drug Interactions and Related Factors in Patients Admitted in Department of Cardiology of Farshchian Heart Hospital of Hamadan. J Clin Med 2018;25:105-111. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21859/ajcm.25.2.105
Perveen F, Khursheed M, Mujeeb R, et al. Incidence of Polypharmacy among emergency patients at a tertiary care Hospital in Karachi: an ignored paradigm for Quality Drug Therapy. Value Health 2015;18:A265. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jval.2015.03.1545
Dookeeram D, Bidaisee S, Paul JF, et al. Polypharmacy and potential drug–drug interactions in emergency department patients in the Caribbean. Int J Clin Pharm 2017, 39:1119-27. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-017-0520-9
Banerjee A, Mbamalu D, Ebrahimi S, et al. The prevalence of polypharmacy in elderly attenders to an emergency department-a problem with a need for an effective solution. Int J Emerg Med 2011;4:22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1865-1380-4-22
Barot PA, Malhotra SD, Patel VJ. Evaluation of Potential Drug-Drug Interactions in Patients of Emergency Medicine Department at a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital: A Prospective Study. Int J Sci Stud 2015;3:48-53.
Okuno MFP, Cintra RS, Vancini-Campanharo CR, et al. Drug interaction in the emergency service. Einstein (São Paulo) 2013;11:462-66. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/S1679-45082013000400010
Jawaro T, Bridgeman PJ, Mele J, et al. Descriptive study of drug-drug interactions attributed to prescriptions written upon discharge from the emergency department. Am J Emerg Med 2019;37:924-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajem.2019.01.049
Langdorf MI, Fox JC, Marwah RS, et al. Physician versus computer knowledge of potential drug interactions in the emergency department. Acad Emerg Med 2000;7:1321-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1553-2712.2000.tb00483.x
Pelliccia F, Rollini F, Marazzi G, et al. Drug–drug interactions between clopidogrel and novel cardiovascular drugs. Eur J Pharmacol 2015;765:332-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejphar.2015.08.059
Manolis AS, Tzeis S, Andrikopoulos G, et al. Aspirin and clopidogrel: a sweeping combination in cardiology. Curr Med Chem Cardiovasc Hematol Agents 2005;3:203-19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2174/1568016054368188
Cruciol-Souza JM, Thomson JC. Prevalence of potential drug-drug interactions and its associated factors in a Brazilian teaching hospital. J Pharm Pharm Sci 2006;9:427-33.
Abbasi Nazari M, Khanzadeh Moqhadam N. Evaluation of pharmacokinetic drug interactions in prescriptions of intensive care unit (ICU) in a teaching hospital. Iranian J Pharmac Res 2010:215-8.
De Almeida SM, Gama CS, Akamine N. Prevalence and classification of drug-drug interactions in intensive care patients. Einstein 2007;5:347-31.
Lima REF, Cassiani SHDB. Potential drug interactions in intensive care patients at a teaching hospital. Rev Lat Am Enfermagem 2009;17:222-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-11692009000200013
Murtaza G, Khan MYG, Azhar S, et al. Assessment of potential drug–drug interactions and its associated factors in the hospitalized cardiac patients. Saudi Pharmac J 2016;24:220-5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsps.2015.03.009

How to Cite

Tahmasebivand, M., Barzegari, H., & Izadpanah, M. (2021). Frequency of polypharmacy and drug interactions in inpatients in the emergency department, Southwest of Iran. Emergency Care Journal, 17(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/ecj.2021.9082