Analysis of the impact of potential drug interactions in oncology patients in a tertiary pediatric Intensive Care Unit

• Grant number: 13/07740-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2013
• End date: December 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Eduardo Juan Troster
• Grantee: Caroline Cabral Kanaan
• Host Institution: Instituto da Criança Professor Doutor Pedro de Alcantara (ICR). Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP (HCFMUSP). Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Amongst problems resulting from the inappropriate use of medicines are the adverse reactions caused by drug interactions. Such interactions have become a major public health problem, compounded by polypharmacy. The interactions are particularly important in hospital settings, where patients receive several different drugs during the course of hospitalization, which may significantly increase the length of hospital stay, the cost of hospitalization or may lead to death, hence the need to identify them and know the factors associated with them. The effect of interactions can be immediate or delayed, therefore it is important to know the frequency of events in the (following?) transition points of care: at admission and discharge. Studies show that drug interactions are more common in ICU patients than in patients in other units. Thus, their safety is important because of the critical health condition and hence low fault tolerance diagnostic and therapeutic. In Brazil, studies of drug interactions in hospitalized patients are scarce. Almost always limited to the determination of the frequency of potential drug interactions, without deepening into the relationship of these events to the use of multiple medications, with specific therapeutic groups, or with the patient's susceptibility factors, such as age and severity of the clinical condition. It is known that the incidence of drug interactions increases proportionally with the number of medications administered. Cancer patients receive often multiple concomitant medications during their treatment, including drugs to treat comorbidities and symptoms related to anti-tumor therapy. Drug interactions are common and have diverse features, and are possibly also underestimated and underreported. The aim of this study is to advance the knowledge about the safe use of medicines in oncology patients admitted into the pediatric ICU and thus promote an improvement of the quality of health care. (AU)