drug-drug interactions; medication errors; pediatric patients; potential drug-drug interactions Purpose: Evaluate the type and severity of potential drug-drug interactions and identify risk factors involved, in pediatric patients admitted in a hospital setting. Methods: Transversal retrospective analytical study was carried out with hospitalized pediatric patients from a Hospital in the West of Mexico, second and third level. The patients included were 18 years old hospitalized in the children wards; those admitted at the emergency room, neonatal intermediate and intensive therapy units were not included. Medical prescriptions were reviewed taking into consideration anthropometric characteristics, diagnosis and number of drugs prescribed to identify potential drugedrug interactions using Micromedex 2.0 database.

With the appearance of new viruses and infectious diseases (ID) such as COVID-19 in 2019, as well as the lack of specific pharmacological tools for the management of patients with severe complications or comorbidities, it is important to search for adjuvant treatments that help improve the prognosis of infectious disease patients. It is also important that these treatments limit the oxidative and hyperinflammatory damage caused as a response to pathogenic agents, since, in some cases, an inflammatory syndrome may develop that worsens the patient’s prognosis. The potential benefits of complementary nutrients and dietary interventions in the treatment of pathological processes in which oxidative stress and inflammation play a fundamental role have been widely evaluated. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a supplement that has been shown to protect cells and be effective in cardiovascular diseases and obesity. Additionally, some studies have proposed it as a possible adjuvant treatment in viral infections. Preclinical and clinical studies have shown that CoQ10 has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, and effects on mitochondrial dysfunction, which have been linked to the inflammatory response.

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Abstract:The objective of this study is to estimate the prevalence and describe the characteristics of pDDIs (potential drug-drug interactions) in medical prescriptions of hospitalized surgical patients. In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed 370 medical prescriptions from the surgery unit of a Mexican public teaching hospital. The identification and classification of potential drug-drug interactions were performed with the Micromedex 2.0 electronic drug information database. Results were analyzed with descriptive statistics and we estimated OR (odds ratio) to determine associated risk factors. From the study, it was found that the prevalence of potential drug-drug interactions was 45.9%. A total of 385 interactions were identified. Of these, 54.3% were classified as major and 60.5% as pharmacodynamic. Prescriptions for more than seven drugs (OR =7.33, CI (confidence interval) = 4.59~11.71) and advanced age > 60 years, (OR = 1.79, CI = 1.06~2.74) were positively associated with the presence of potential drug-drug interactions. We found a high prevalence of clinically relevant pDDIs in the surgery unit. In view of this outcome, the safety of drug combinations in hospitalized surgical patients should be evaluated during the prescription process in order to prevent adverse events.

Antecedentes: Una prescripción potencialmente inapropiada (PPI) constituye un riesgo de presentar efectos adversos por un fármaco que superan los beneficios de este, pudiendo considerarse como uso inadecuado de medicamentos. Objetivo: Describir la prevalencia de prescripciones potencialmente inapropiadas en pacientes geriátricos hospitalizados en el servicio de medicina interna de un hospital de referencia en México. Material y métodos: Diseño descriptivo transversal, con asignación simple de expedientes clínicos de pacientes hospitalizados mayores de 65 años, entre enero de 2016 y agosto de 2017. Se aplicaron los criterios STOPP y START para identificar el número de PPI, cantidad de medicamentos prescritos, presencia, cantidad y tipo de comorbilidades, así como días de estancia hospitalaria. Resultados: Se encontró una prevalencia de 73.3 % de PPI y las principales comorbilidades fueron hipertensión arterial y diabetes mellitus tipo 2. Se cuantificaron 1885 medicamentos prescritos; la estancia hospitalaria media fue de 6.3 días. Conclusiones: Se identificó alta prevalencia de PPI en los pacientes geriátricos hospitalizados, de ahí la importancia de aplicar los criterios STOPP y START y del papel del farmacéu-