Identification and Assessment of Potential Drug-Drug Interactions in Intensive Care Unit Patients

CONTEXT: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients suffer from various comorbidities and usually receive complex pharmacotherapy which increases the risk of drug-drug interactions (DDIs). AIM: To identify and assess potential DDIs (pDDIs) in ICU patients. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A prospective observational study conducted in ICU of a tertiary care hospital for a period of 6 months. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patient information was noted in the data collection form and pDDIs were assessed using Micromedex®database. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Chi-square test was used to find correlation of pDDIs with patient parameters. p value was calculated keeping the significance level 0.05. RESULTS: Total 400 subjects were included; having an average age of 55.99 ± 15.62 years with a higher percentage of males (61.75%). About 305 (76.25%) patients were found with pDDIs, showing an average of 2.93 pDDIs/patient. The findings of this study were as follows: Total interactions = 1171, contraindicated = 6 (1%), major = 715 (61%), moderate = 428 (36%), and minor = 22 (2%) pDDIs. Further, majority of pDDIs had onset of action “not specified” documentation “fair” and probable mechanism “pharmacodynamic” in nature. Significant association of occurrence of pDDIs was found with number of drugs prescribed to patients in ICU. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated a high prevalence of pDDI in ICU due to the complexity of pharmacotherapy which showed major pDDIs as the most evident (61%) while contraindicated were 1%. Further studies are needed to better explore this area which may help in realizing the goal of good clinical practice and may offer a methodology to further increase drug safety. KEY MESSAGES: “Monitoring and assessment of DDIs is needed for better patient care”. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Wagh BR, Godbole DD, et al. Identification and Assessment of Potential Drug-Drug Interactions in Intensive Care Unit Patients. Indian J Crit Care Med 2019;23(4):170-174.