[Drug interactions in the prescription of medical patients at hospital discharge].
OBJECTIVE
To detect and evaluate the clinical significance of drugs interactions in patients discharged from hospital.


METHODS
We retrospectively screened the medication for potential drug interactions of 412 patients discharged. Interactions were catalogued according to clinical importance following the Hansten and Horn's classification.


RESULTS
Three hundred twenty-nine potential interactions were detected. The 39.9% of the patients had at least one potentially interacting drug combination. The 52.6% of the interactions were catalogued as Class 3, bearing in mind minimizing the risk of the interaction. We did not find any Class 1 or 2 interactions, which have potentially major severity. Oral anticoagulants and digoxin were the most frequently implicated drugs. The patient monitoring was well done in the 100% of the interactions of Oral anticoagulants with other drug, but in the interactions of digoxin with another, this control was not done adequately. One patient was rehospitalised due to high levels of digoxin, he had been discharged with two potential interactions.


CONCLUSIONS
The frequently of potential drug interactions in medical patients at hospital discharged was high, but the clinical significance appear to be low.
López Vázquez
P
P
Servicio de Farmacología Clínica, Hospital Clínico, Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña.
Rodríguez Moreno
C
C
Durán Parrondo
C
C
Tato Herrero
F
F
Rodríguez López
I
I
Lado Lado
F L
FL
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004347:Drug Interactions; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010351:Patient Discharge