Potential Drug-Drug Interactions in a Mexican Public Health Center

Abstract

Introduction: Drug-drug interactions are one of the most frequent problems that could be avoided from the prescription. In Mexico, the public health system is usually saturated, the physician has little time to attend to the patient and the pharmacist is just beginning to join the team of health professionals. As a consequence, drug-related problems, such as drug-drug interactions, occur frequently, but the magnitude of the problem is unknown, mainly at the first level of medical care.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of potential drug-drug interactions identified in medical prescriptions in a first-level health center in Mexico City in the year 2021.

Methods: An observational, cross-sectional, case series study was conducted to determine the prevalence, severity and consequences of potential drug-drug interactions in prescriptions at the Dr. Francisco J. Balmis Health Center in Mexico City during the year 2021. The Micromedex® database was used.

Results: A total of 6590 prescriptions were analyzed. A total of 70.74% of the prescriptions had two or more drugs indicated, of which 38.59% presented at least one potential drug-drug interaction. Most were of moderate severity (80%) and were due to antidiabetic and antihypertensive drugs. The percentage of presenting at least one potential drug-drug interaction increased as the number of drugs in the prescription increased.

Conclusion: The presence of at least one potential drug-drug interaction in the prescriptions analyzed was frequent, commonly due to combinations between hypoglycemic and antihypertensive drugs, which could negatively compromise the health and safety of patients.