BackgroundIncreasing use of medicinal herbs as nutritional supplements and traditional medicines for the treatment of diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and malaria fever with conventional drugs poses possibilities of herb–drug interactions (HDIs). The potential of nine selected widely used tropical medicinal herbs in inhibiting human cytochrome P450 (CYP) isoenzymes was investigated.Materials and methodsIn vitro inhibition of eight major CYP isoenzymes by aqueous extracts of Allium sativum, Gongronema latifolium, Moringa oleifera, Musa sapientum, Mangifera indica, Tetracarpidium conophorum, Alstonia boonei, Bauhinia monandra, and Picralima nitida was estimated in human liver microsomes by monitoring twelve probe metabolites of nine probe substrates with UPLC/MS‐MS using validated N‐in‐one assay method.Results Mangifera indica moderately inhibited CYP2C8, CYP2B6, CYP2D6, CYP1A2, and CYP2C9 with IC 50 values of 37.93, 57.83, 67.39, 54.83, and 107.48 μg/ml, respectively, and Alstonia boonei inhibited CYP2D6 (IC 50 = 77.19 μg/ml). Picralima nitida inhibited CYP3A4 (IC 50 = 45.58 μg/ml) and CYP2C19 (IC 50 = 73.06 μg/ml) moderately but strongly inhibited CYP2D6 (IC 50 = 1.19 μg/ml). Other aqueous extracts of Gongronema latifolium, Bauhinia monandra, and Moringa oleifera showed weak inhibitory activities against CYP1A2. Musa sapientum, Allium sativum, and Tetracarpidium conophorum did not inhibit the CYP isoenzymes investigated.ConclusionPotential for clinically important CYP‐metabolism‐mediated HDIs is possible for Alstonia boonei, Mangifera indica, and Picralima nitida with drugs metabolized by CYP 2C8, 2B6, 2D6, 1A2, 2C9, 2C19, and 3A4. Inhibition of CYP2D6 by Picralima nitida is of particular concern and needs immediate in vivo investigations.

No abstract

Aqueous extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa lowered T better than simvastatin and enhanced the antihyperlipidaemic activity of the drug when co-administered at low doses in an animal model. However, aqueous beverage of Hibiscus sabdariffa caused a significant herb-drug interaction resulting in overall reduction in exposure to simvastatin in humans. Caution should thus be placed on clinical judgement or recommendations based on the animal results. Nevertheless, co-administration of the beverage with simvastatin should be discouraged until more clinical data are available.

Purpose: To identify potentially inappropriate prescribing in ambulatory elderly patients and compare the appropriateness of guidelines; Beers' and Screening Tool of Older Person’s Prescription (STOPP)/Screening Tool to Alert Right Treatment (START) criteria to detect potentially  inappropriate prescribing among the elderly.Methods: A retrospective study was conducted using case files of 335 elderly patients aged ≥ 60 years between 1st January and 31st December  2016, using a data extraction sheet. The 2015 American Geriatrics Society (AGS)-Beers Criteria, and version 2 of the STOPP and START were  subsequently used to identify the Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing (PIP) and Potential Prescribing Omissions (PPOs).Results: Mean age of patients was 69 ± 0.4 years (range 60 - 85 years) and 219 (65.4 %) were females. An average of 4.2 medications per patient prescription was found. The Beers criteria identified 26.5 % PIP, while STOPP criteria identified 57.1 % PIP. START detected 29 PPOs in 15 (4.4 %) of the patient’s prescription. The most prevalent disease conditions were hypertension 235 (70.1 %) and osteoarthritis 64 (19.3 %). Polypharmacy was significantly associated with PIP in both Beers (p = 0.002) and STOPP (p = 0.001) criteria.Conclusion: The prevalence of PIP is high among elderly patients. The STOPP/START criteria identified a higher proportion of PIP among elderly patients compared with Beers criteria. The frequency of PIP should stimulate efforts to curtail potentially inappropriate prescribing and may require the need for advocating for a national criterion to be adopted by health care professionals in Nigeria. Keywords: Potential inappropriate prescribing, Beers’ criteria, STOPP/START criteria, Elderly

Background Patient medication counselling (PMC) is a pharmaceutical care service targeted at optimizing patient drug use, safety and improving treatment outcomes. This study assessed the content and quality of PMC from the community pharmacists’ (CPs) and pharmacy customers’ (PCs) perspectives. Methods A cross-sectional questionnaire-guided survey was conducted in Ibadan, Nigeria, among 125 CPs and 612 PCs. The 35-counselling items validated United States Pharmacopeia Medication Counselling Behaviour Guideline scale with 10-point graded responses (1 = poor to 10 = excellent) was used. Self-reported medication counselling information content provided by CPs and received by PCs was assessed and expressed in median and interquartile ranges. The quality of PMC was evaluated and graded as poor (1–29.9%), unsatisfactory (30–59.9%), satisfactory (60–79.9%) and excellent (80–100%). Associations between demographic variables and overall quality of counselling were determined with Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis tests at p < 0.05. Results The response rate was 92.5% and 97.6% for PCs and CPs, respectively. The PCs’ opinions on the individual content of the PMC provided by the CPs were significantly different from the pharmacists’ self-report (p < 0.05). Some of the PMC content included how to take the medicine PC = 6.00 (2.00) vs CP = 8.00 (2.00), information on possible side effects PC = 6.00 (2.00) vs CP = 8.00 (2.00), taking history of allergies and other medications PC = 6.00 (6.00) vs CP = 7.00 (1.00), and how to incorporate drug regimen into daily routine PC = 5.00 (6.00) vs CP = 8.00 (3.00). The quality of PMC purportedly provided by CPs and received by the PCs was satisfactory (75%) and unsatisfactory (55%), respectively. The quality of communication counselling offered by CPs trained in Nigeria (Mean rank = 62.49) was higher than those trained outside Nigeria (Mean rank = 26.40), U = 228.00, p = 0.024. The PC’s age, marital status, and highest educational qualification were significantly associated with their opinion on the quality of counselling received. Conclusions Both the community pharmacists and pharmacy customers reported the provision of patient medication counselling on side effects, drug usage, medication history and allergies among others. However, the quality of counselling provided by the pharmacists was satisfactory, but the quality of counselling received by the pharmacy customers was unsatisfactory. Pharmacists may need to engage pharmacy customers more during medication counselling.