The prevalence of potential drug interactions in Intensive Care Units

Aims: Drug interaction occurs when a drug affects the action of another. In this line, the present study has been conducted to determine the prevalence of potential drug interactions in critical care units. Methods: In the present retrospective study, the first twenty-four hour prescriptions of 371 patients admitted to intensive care unit of Shahid Bahonar hospital of Kerman were investigated in terms of the number and type of drug interaction in addition to other factors such as number of drugs, age, gender, length of ICU stay and number of prescribing doctors. In order to determine the number and type of drug interactions, a reference textbook of "Drug Interaction Facts" was used, and data analysis was performed by SPSS18 statistical software with respect to the study objectives using descriptive statistics, Pierson correlation test, independent t-test, and variance analysis. Results: In terms of the drugs received, 77 different drugs and, in total, 2091 cases of drug prescription were found with the average of 5.6 (±1.5) for each patient. Overall, 726 cases of drug interactions were observed among critical care unit patients in the first 24 hour of prescription. Delayed, moderate, and possible interactions were accounted for the most interactions found. The results are indicative of a significant correlation between the number of drug interactions and prescribed medications, age, gender, duration of hospitalizations and number of prescribing doctors. Conclusion: Due to possessing more risk factors of drug interactions, critical care unit patients are at higher risk of developing drug interaction which behooves the medical team to pay more attention to this issue