Potential Interactions of Medication Prescribed in Discharge Letters from a Clinic for Hematology and Oncology

Abstract

Background: As there are few data worldwide concerning the frequency and relevance of interactions of prescribed drugs in hemato-oncology, we analyzed the medication prescribed to patients at a clinic within a comprehensive cancer center. Methods: Details of the medication prescribed for all patients in 2011 were extracted from their discharge letters. All potential medication combinations were assess with respect to the risk of interaction using 3 specialized websites. Results: The files of 202 patients receiving 275 drugs were extracted; 4,303 drug combinations were created. Overall, 88% of these combinations were found to be harmless with an interaction value (IV) of 1. However 10% showed potential risk of probable interaction (IV 2 + 3). 47% of the patients had at least 1 drug combination with a risk of interaction. A maximum of 29 drugs with 15 probable and possible interactions were found. Conclusion: Awareness for this topic should be raised in physicians and patients. An important step for avoiding risks of interactions is a systematic check of all drugs prescribed. There is urgent need for reliable data on clinically relevant interactions and for a better network in which physicians and pharmacists can exchange data about relevant interactions.

Interactions in cancer treatment considering cancer therapy, concomitant medications, food, herbal medicine and other supplements

“…This might partly cause a higher rate of patients affected by drug interactions in our study. Another reason might be a difference in mean age of the patients: 61 years in our study compared to 56 in the study from Schaefer et al (2018). A higher mean age might result in a polypharmaceutical situation with a higher number of Table 5 Likely interactions between CAM supplements and concomitant diseases' treatment in 13 patients a Ginger: increased bleeding risks (e.g.…”

“…Schaefer et al ( 2018 ) discovered that 47% of 202 hematological cancer patients had at least one potentially interacting drug combination, which is more than discovered in other studies (e.g. Castro-Manzanares et al 2019 ; Hoemme et al 2019 ).…”

“…Castro-Manzanares et al 2019 ; Hoemme et al 2019 ). Two hundred two patients with 1929 drugs were included in the study (Schaefer et al 2018 ) while our study includes 115 patients with 1191 active ingredients in medical treatment. That equals 9.5 drugs per patient in the study from Schaefer et al ( 2018 ) versus 10.4 drugs per patient in average in our investigation.…”

“…Two hundred two patients with 1929 drugs were included in the study (Schaefer et al 2018 ) while our study includes 115 patients with 1191 active ingredients in medical treatment. That equals 9.5 drugs per patient in the study from Schaefer et al ( 2018 ) versus 10.4 drugs per patient in average in our investigation. We discovered a higher number of drugs prescribed per patient being associated with more drug–drug interactions as it is described in literature as well (Hoemme et al 2019 ).…”

Potential drug–drug interactions and nephrotoxicity in hematopoietic stem cell transplant adult recipients during bone marrow transplantation unit stay

“…Several studies in hematological patients have have shown that potential drug-drug interactions (pDDI's) were frequent ranging from 50 % to 100 % of the patients [14][15][16][17], and that many were of pharmacokinetic origin [14][15][16]. The clinical relevance, variable according the studies, was estimated as major in 62 % [15] and 82 % [18] of the patients, and as moderate in 86 % of the patients [14], 38 % [15].…”