Interações medicamentosas em prescrições de idosos hipertensos: prevalência e significância clínica

Abstract

This study examined the prevalence and clinical significance of drug interactions identified in prescriptions of elderly hypertensive patients. This descriptive study was conducted at the Dom Mielle Primary Health Care Unit in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo State, from July to December 2011. Interactions were identified using Drug-Reax® Micromedex software and classified by severity, time of onset and documentation. SAS®9.0 software was used for descriptive statistics. Of the 40 patients studied, 65.0% were women and the median age was 71.0 (SD = 5.9) years. The average number of drugs prescribed per patient was 7.5 (SD = 2.8); all patients had at least one drug interaction. Of the 169 interactions identified, 17.1% were severe. The occurrence of drug interactions was high in the patients studied. Healthcare teams must identify drug interactions of clinical significance and implement measures to prevent and monitor them.