4.6 Article

Real-life drug-drug and herb-drug interactions in outpatients taking oral anticancer drugs: comparison with databases

Journal

JOURNAL OF CANCER RESEARCH AND CLINICAL ONCOLOGY
Volume 148, Issue 3, Pages 707-718

Publisher

SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00432-021-03645-z

Keywords

Oral anticancer agents; Drug– drug interactions; Herb– drug interaction; Clinical pharmacist

Categories

Ask authors/readers for more resources

This study found that potentially clinically relevant drug interactions were frequently identified in outpatients taking oral anticancer drugs, highlighting the need for multiple databases and structured screening to detect more interactions and optimize medication safety.
Purpose Due to polypharmacy and the rising popularity of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM), oncology patients are particularly at risk of drug-drug interactions (DDI) or herb-drug interactions (HDI). The aims of this study were to assess DDI and HDI in outpatients taking oral anticancer drug. Method All prescribed and non-prescribed medications, including CAM, were prospectively collected by hospital pharmacists during a structured interview with the patient. DDI and HDI were analyzed using four interaction software programs: Theriaque(R), Drugs.com(R), Hedrine, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) database. All detected interactions were characterized by severity, risk and action mechanism. The need for pharmaceutical intervention to modify drug use was determined on a case-by-case basis. Results 294 patients were included, with a mean age of 67 years [55-79]. The median number of chronic drugs per patient was 8 [1-29] and 55% of patients used at least one CAM. At least 1 interaction was found for 267 patients (90.8%): 263 (89.4%) with DDI, 68 (23.1%) with HDI, and 64 (21.7%) with both DDI and HDI. Only 13% of the DDI were found in Theriaque(R) and Drugs.com(R) databases, and 125 (2.5%) were reported with similar level of risk on both databases. 104 HDI were identified with only 9.5% of the interactions found in both databases. 103 pharmaceutical interventions were performed, involving 61 patients (20.7%). Conclusion Potentially clinically relevant drug interaction were frequently identified in this study, showing that several databases and structured screening are required to detect more interactions and optimize medication safety.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.6
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available