Poster Presentations
- PDF / 1,546,667 Bytes
- 1 Pages / 504.57 x 720 pts Page_size
- 27 Downloads / 201 Views
ABSTRACTS
© 2007 Adis Data Information BV. All rights reserved.
Poster Presentations P.117 Concomitant Prescription of Anticoagulants and Drugs at Interaction Risk: Cross-Sectional Study in a General Practice of Southern Italy ` 1,3 S. Moretti,2 M. Tari,2 A.P. Caputi,1 M. Alacqua,1 G. Trifiro, V. Arcoraci1 1 Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine and Pharmacology, Pharmacology Unit, University of Messina, Messina, Italy; 2 “Caserta 1” Local Health Service, Caserta, Italy; 3 IRCCS Centro Neurolesi, Bonino-Pulejo, Messina, Italy Background: Oral anticoagulants are commonly used to prevent thromboembolic events in patients with chronic atrial fibrillation, prosthetic heart valves, coronary artery disease and venous thromboembolism. Hemorrhage is the major complication of oral anticoagulants. Therefore, the intensity of anticoagulant activity is routinely assessed by monitoring of international normalised ratio (INR) values. Many drugs had been reported to interact with anticoagulants and monitoring and dose adjustments are frequently required in case of concomitant administration. Aim: a) To assess the prevalence of concomitant prescriptions of anticoagulants and medications at interaction risk in a general practice of Southern Italy; b) to measure prevalence and incidence of use of anticoagulants. Methods: Data source was Arianna database of “Caserta-1” Local Health Service which collects drug prescriptions linked to medical diagnoses of almost 300,000 inhabitants registered in lists of 243 general practitioners (GPs). For this study, 93 GPs, who continuously sent data of their patients during the years 2003-5, were recruited. Prevalence of concomitant prescriptions at interaction risk was calculated as the number of patients receiving anticoagulants and potentially interacting medication at the same date, divided by the number of subjects registered in GPs’ lists during the study years. A sensitivity analysis was carried out in order to evaluate such a prevalence of use, taking into account a different risk period. Results: On a total sample of 1.166 patients treated with anticoagulants, 744 (64%) received at least one coprescription at interaction risk. NSAIDs (245 patients, 21%), amiodarone (231 patients, 20%), statins (192, 16%), allopurinol (107, 9%) and propafenone (65, 6%) were the most prescribed drugs at interaction risk with anticoagulants. Prevalence of anticoagulant use was stable from 2003 (7.6 per 1,000 inhabitants; 95% CI: 7.0-8.1) to 2004 (7.8; 7.2-8.3), with a slight increase in 2005 (8.8; 8.3-9.4). Incidence of anticoagulant use rose from 2004 (1.7 per 1,000 inhabitants) to 2005 (2.6), as well. Conclusion: High proportion of anticoagulant users received concomitant prescriptions with medications at interaction risk in Southern Italy. In light of wide use of these medications in general practice, physicians should be aware of drug-drug interaction risk in patients in chronic treatment with anticoagulants, thus prescribing, whenever it is necessary, concomitant medications with less potent
Data Loading...
