[Grapefruit consumption and food-drug interaction hazard].
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the prevalence of grapefruit consumption in patients admitted to a tertiary care emergency department (ED) and its potential impact on the risk of fruit-drug interaction.


METHODS
Observational cross-sectional study conducted in a medical ED between July and December 2009. Data analysis searched for the main drugs which can dramatically interact with grapefruit and for adverse drug events (ADEs). Among the 162 patients who were interviewed, 59 (36%) reported grapefruit consumption (regardless form or frequency) and 11 (7%) were prescribed a treatment with a risk of fruit-drug interaction. No ADE could be related to an interaction with grapefruit. Calcium channel blockers and HMG-coA-reductase inhibitors mostly accounted for drugs at risk of interaction in grapefruit consumers.


CONCLUSIONS
These results give evidence of the sizeable risk of grapefruit-drug interaction in the prescriptions of patients admitted to a medical ED, with a high proportion of commonly used medicines but poor clinical consequences.
Unité de Thérapeutique, Université de Nantes, France. lucien.roulet@gmail.com
Lucien
L
Roulet
Nathalie
N
Asseray
Marie-Line
ML
Mottier
Anne
A
Chiffoleau
Gilles
G
Potel
Maryse
M
Lapeyre-Mestre
Françoise
F
Ballereau
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers / Q000009:adverse effects; D032083:Citrus paradisi / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D005260:Female; D018565:Food-Drug Interactions; D006801:Humans; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060735:Pharmacovigilance; D012306:Risk
D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors