Prevalence of drug-drug interactions in geriatric patients at an ambulatory care pharmacy in a tertiary care teaching hospital

BMC Res Notes. 2018 Apr 5;11(1):234. doi: 10.1186/s13104-018-3342-5.

Abstract

Objective: A cross-sectional study was performed from February to May 2015, to estimate the prevalence of drug-drug interactions in geriatric patients at the ambulatory care pharmacy at King Abdul-Aziz Medical City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Results: A total of 310 patients were included, with a mean age (± SD) of 73.78 ± 6.96, and 48.70% were female. The overall prevalence of DDIs of all categories was 90.64%. Category B DDIs was 55.80%, category C DDIs 87.74%, category D DDIs 51.93%, and category X DDIs 16.45%. Atorvastatine plus omeprazole was identified as the most common interacting pair, with a prevalence of 25.26%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that category D or X DDIs are more likely to occur in the female patient (OR = 1.79; 95% CI 1.07, 2.97), the patient taking more than three medications (OR = 22.62; 95% CI 2.93, 174.83), and the patient with more than two conditions (OR = 3.09; 95% CI 1.81, 5.27).

Keywords: Ambulatory care; Drug–drug interactions; Geriatric; Pharmacy; Prevalence.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Ambulatory Care
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Drug Interactions*
  • Drug Prescriptions / statistics & numerical data*
  • Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions / epidemiology*
  • Female
  • Hospitals, Teaching / statistics & numerical data*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Pharmacies / statistics & numerical data*
  • Prevalence
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Tertiary Healthcare