Drug-Drug Interactions among Elderly Patients at Hospital Discharge: A Cross-Sectional Descriptive Study

Background: The presence of multiple comorbidities makes prescription of multiple drugs essential in the elderly. This is attended with an increased risk of potential drug-drug interactions (DDIs). Aim and objectives: To determine the number of DDIs, their severity, and the common DDIs detected in the prescriptions written for elderly patients of a tertiary care teaching hospital and identify any difference in terms of gender. Material and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Every prescription was screened for potential DDIs using the Lexicomp (R) software. The detected DDIs were classified as X, avoid combination; D, consider therapy modification; and C, monitor therapy as per the Lexicomp (R) criteria. Results: The data from 124 patients discharged from the General Medicine department of a tertiary care hospital were evaluated. Of these, 67.7% (82/124) were females. A total of 39 category X-DDIs, 71 category D-DDIs, and 349 category C-DDIs were seen. There was a significant positive correlation between the number of drugs prescribed and the number of DDIs detected (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Our study showed that DDIs were common among elderly patients. A large number of DDIs belong to category C, which requires only monitoring of therapy. Careful planning of the treatment regimen at the time of hospital discharge can decrease the number of drugs prescribed and, thereby, the number of potential DDIs can be decreased.