Assessment of used medications and drug-drug interactions among chronic renal failure patients

Abstract

AIMS: To describe the drugs most frequently used by patients in hemodialysis and to identify potential drug-drug interactions. METHODS: Cross-sectional study conducted in a hospital hemodialysis unit. Each combination of drugs prescription was analyzed in Micromedex©2014 Truven Health Analytics (Michigan, United States), to identify potential drug-drug interactions and classify them according to severity. RESULTS: Sixty-five patients were included. The mean age was 59.1±14.7 years and 50.8% were women. The occurrence of polypharmacy was 87.7%, with average of 6.3±3.1 medications/patient, the most frequent being calcium carbonate (n=55, 84.6%) and erythropoietin (n=47, 72.3%). The prevalence of potential drug-drug interactions was 56.9%, with median of one interaction per patient, and most were classified as moderate (49.1%) being the most frequent atenolol/calcium carbonate (n=9, 8.0%) and iron/calcium carbonate (n=9, 8.0%). The presence and number of potential moderate or important drug-drug interactions were significantly associated with the number of drugs used by the patient (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of potential drug-drug interactions was high and closely linked to the number of drugs used by each patient. The population with chronic kidney disease requires the use of various drugs, therefore the careful selection of therapeutic alternatives through pharmaceutical assistance is important for effective, rational and safe use of medicines