Predicting the risk of drug–drug interactions in psychiatric hospitals: a retrospective longitudinal pharmacovigilance study
ObjectivesThe aim was to use routine data available at a patient’s admission to the hospital to predict polypharmacy and drug–drug interactions (DDI) and to evaluate the prediction performance with regard to its usefulness to support the efficient management of benefits and risks of drug prescriptions.DesignRetrospective, longitudinal study.SettingWe used data from a large multicentred pharmacovigilance project carried out in eight psychiatric hospitals in Hesse, Germany.ParticipantsInpatient episodes consecutively discharged between 1 October 2017 and 30 September 2018 (year 1) or 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2019 (year 2).Outcome measuresThe proportion of rightly classified hospital epi…
Polypharmacy and the risk of drug-drug interactions and potentially inappropriate medications in hospital psychiatry.
PURPOSE The aim of this study was to analyze the epidemiology of polypharmacy in hospital psychiatry. Another aim was to investigate predictors of the number of drugs taken and the associated risks of drug-drug interactions and potentially inappropriate medications in the elderly. METHODS Daily prescription data were obtained from a pharmacovigilance project sponsored by the Innovations Funds of the German Federal Joint Committee. RESULTS The study included 47 071 inpatient hospital cases from eight different study centers. The mean number of different drugs during the entire stay was 6.1 (psychotropic drugs = 2.7; others = 3.4). The mean number of drugs per day was 3.8 (psychotropic drugs …
Pharmacotherapy, drug-drug interactions and potentially inappropriate medication in depressive disorders.
Introduction The aim of this study was to describe the number and type of drugs used to treat depressive disorders in inpatient psychiatry and to analyse the determinants of potential drug-drug interactions (pDDI) and potentially inappropriate medication (PIM). Methods Our study was part of a larger pharmacovigilance project funded by the German Innovation Funds. It included all inpatients with a main diagnosis in the group of depressive episodes (F32, ICD-10) or recurrent depressive disorders (F33) discharged from eight psychiatric hospitals in Germany between 1 October 2017 and 30 September 2018 or between 1 January and 31 December 2019. Results The study included 14,418 inpatient cases.…
QTc Time Correlates with Amitriptyline and Venlafaxine Serum Levels in Elderly Psychiatric Inpatients
Abstract Introduction Many antidepressants cause QT prolongation but the classification of cardiac risk of these drugs varies markedly in different published lists. This retrospective study analyzed the correlation of QTc time with amitriptyline and venlafaxine serum level in elderly psychiatric inpatients. Methods Elderly inpatients aged≥65 years for whom venlafaxine or amitriptyline serum level had been measured were selected retrospectively from a therapeutic drug monitoring database and screened for an electrocardiogram measurement at the time of blood withdrawal. The correlation of amitriptyline or venlafaxine serum levels with QTc time was examined by using Pearson’s correlation analy…