INVESTIGATION OF FREQUENCY AND TYPES OF DRUG INTERACTIONS IN INTENSIVE CARE UNITS OF URMIA UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES HOSPITALS IN 2021

Drug interactions can cause adverse reactions in the patient, from treatment inefficiency to serious treatment complications. Due to the complexity of drug therapy and the use of several drugs and different drug groups, patients hospitalized in special care units are exposed to more drug interactions. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the frequency of drug interactions in patients admitted to the intensive care unit.

This study investigated the medical records of 300 patients admitted to intensive care units of Urmia teaching hospitals. Drug interactions were determined using the Lexi-comp application and Drug Interaction Facts textbook. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software v. 16.0.

Of the 300 cases, 138 (%43.3) were male and 160 (%53.7) were female. Two hundred and thirty- one patients (77%) had moderate interaction, 94 patients (%31.3) had mild interaction, and 67 patients (%22.3) had severe interaction. One hundred eighty-six patients had pharmacokinetic interactions, and 201 patients had pharmacokinetic interactions. The most common interaction was for drugs Heparin + Aspirin, with 58 cases.

By making medical personnel aware of the potential side effects of drug interactions and the science of interference, as well as replacing interfering drugs with other drugs as much as possible, paying attention to drugs that frequently cause interference with other drugs, and using interference detection softwares, it is possible to effectively prevent drug interactions and complications in the intensive care unit.