Affiliations: Department of Pharmacy Practice, Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Jimmy Jose, Lecturer, Department of Pharmacy Practice, IVth Floor, Shirdi Sai Baba Cancer Hospital, Kasturba Hospital, Manipal, Karnataka, India 576 104. Tel.: +91 820 2571201, ext. 22403; Fax: +91 820 2571998; E-mail: jimmy_jose2001@yahoo.com
Abstract: Independent drug information (DI) centers provide health care professionals with information related to drugs for safe prescribing. Drug interaction is one among the various categories of DI queries received by DI centers. This study was aimed at assessing the nature of drug interaction related queries received by the DI center of a tertiary care hospital and evaluates the utility of the information provided. Drug interactions related queries received by the DI center for 18 months were evaluated. The DI forms were evaluated for various parameters such as the drug and drug class most commonly involved in the queries. Those DI queries in which there was a documented drug–drug interaction; the severity, documentation and onset of the drug interaction was also assessed. Out of the DI queries (n=980) received during the study period, 128 (13%) were related to drug interactions. Majority (97, 75.7%) of the queries were from the department of medicine and clinicians utilized the service to an enormous extend (108, 84.3%). A drug interaction which was documented in literature was observed only in 40 (32%) queries which constituted 59 potential drug interactions. Fifty two percent of these interactions had good documentation in literature and 57.8% of these were of moderate severity as per literature. Majority (51, 86.4%) of these drug interactions have a delayed onset as per literature. Warfarin (18, 4.6%) was the drug and antimycobacterials was the drugs class most commonly involved (48, 12.2%) in the queries. Our study data revealed that information on drug interactions is one amongst the frequently sought drug related aspect by the health care professionals. Queries are most frequently asked for agents with wider interaction potential, even those which are well established and widely used which and those for which prescribers are less familiar with interaction potential.
Keywords: Drug information, drug–drug interaction, severity, onset, documentation, pattern
