Assessing Consistency of Drug-Drug Interaction-Related Information Across Various Drug Information Resources

Background Information related to drug-drug interactions (DDIs) varies significantly from one drug information (DI) resource to another. These variations pose challenges for healthcare professionals in making the right decisions regarding using some of the drug combinations in needy patients. The objective of this study was to review eight different DI resources for scope, completeness, and consistency of information related to DDIs. Methodology A total of eight DI resources, namely, Micromedex(®), Portable Electronic Physician Information Database(©), UpToDate(®), Medscape.com drug interaction checker, Drugs.com drug interaction checker, Stockley’s Drug Interactions (ninth edition, 2010), Drug Interactions Analysis & Management: Facts and Comparisons 2014 (ninth edition, 2014), and the drug interaction appendix of the British National Formulary-76, were compared. Each DI resource was scored for scope by calculating the percentage of interactions that had an entry in each resource. A completeness score was calculated for each resource describing severity, clinical effects, mechanism, and DDI management. The consistency of the information was assessed using Fleiss Kappa (k) score estimated using ReCal3 0.1 (alpha) web service and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 24. Results The scope score was the highest (100%) for UpToDate(®) and Portable Electronic Physician Information Database(©), whereas the completeness score was the highest (100%) for Drug Interaction Analysis & Management: Facts and comparisons 2014. The inter-source reliability scores among the eight different DI sources were poor (k < 0.20, p < 0.05) for documentation of information related to severity, clinical effects, mechanism, and management of DDIs. Conclusions Variations in the information cause uncertainty among healthcare professionals concerning interacting drug pairs in clinical practice. This may also increase the possibility of adverse drug outcomes when interacting drug pairs are used in at-risk patients. We recommend comprehensive preventive and management strategies for DDIs depending on a uniform scale of severity and clinical effects across various DI resources.