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Drug-drug interaction software in clinical practice: a systematic review
Tina Roblek1, Tomaz Vaupotic, Ales Mrhar
1Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology
|December 23, 2014
Summary
This review evaluated electronic databases for drug-drug interactions (DDIs). While some databases like Micromedex® are highly sensitive, clinical relevance remains a concern for prescribers.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacology
- Clinical Pharmacy
- Health Informatics
Background:
- Electronic databases are crucial for identifying drug-drug interactions (DDIs).
- Assessing the prevalence and clinical significance of potential DDIs is essential for patient safety.
- Evaluating the usability and appropriateness of available DDI databases is necessary.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the usability and appropriateness of commercially available electronic databases for assessing potential drug-drug interactions (DDIs).
Main Methods:
- A systematic electronic literature search was conducted using terms like "database," "software," and "drug-drug interactions."
- Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to identify relevant publications.
- 38 publications were analyzed from an initial search of 3766 papers.
Main Results:
- Micromedex® Drug-Reax was the most frequently used software, noted for its sensitivity and detailed information on DDIs (clinical consequences, mechanism, onset, severity, evidence level).
- Other databases providing similar data include Drug Interaction Facts®, Lexi-Interact®, and Pharmavista®.
- Studies comparing electronic database assessments with clinician assessments revealed significant discrepancies in the number and relevance of detected DDIs, with overlap as low as 11%.
Conclusions:
- A significant deficiency exists in the clinical relevance of DDIs identified by current electronic databases.
- Future research should focus on improving the clinical utility of DDI information for prescribers.
- Enhancing the relevance of detected DDIs will improve their application in clinical practice.
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