Impact of the drug-drug interaction database SFINX on prevalence of potentially serious drug-drug interactions in primary health care
Andersson, M.L.; Böttiger, Y.; Lindh, J.D.; Wettermark, B.; Eiermann, B.
European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 69(3): 565-571
2013
ISSN/ISBN: 1432-1041 PMID: 22752671 DOI: 10.1007/s00228-012-1338-yDocument Number: 355985
To investigate the impact of the integration of the drug-drug interaction database SFINX into primary health care records on the prevalence of potentially serious drug-drug interactions. The study was a controlled before-and-after study on the prevalence of potential drug-drug interactions before and after the implementation of SFINX at 15 primary healthcare centres compared with 5 centres not receiving the intervention. Data on dispensed prescriptions from health care centres were retrieved from the Swedish prescribed drug register and analysed for September-December 2006 (pre-intervention) and September-December 2007 (post-intervention). All drugs dispensed during each 4 month period were regarded as potentially interacting. Use of SFINX was associated with a 17% decrease, to 1.81 × 10(-3) from 2.15 × 10(-3) interactions per prescribed drug-drug pair, in the prevalence of potentially serious drug-drug interactions (p = 0.042), whereas no significant effect was observed in the control group. The change in prevalence of potentially serious drug-drug interactions did not differ significantly between the two study groups. The majority of drug-drug interactions identified were related to chelate formation. Prescriptions resulting in potentially serious drug-drug interactions were significantly reduced after integration of the drug-drug interaction database SFINX into electronic health records in primary care. Further studies are needed to demonstrate the effectiveness of drug-drug interaction warning systems.
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