Determination of potential drug-drug interactions with different interaction software programs in elderly patients over 85 in a community pharmacy setting: A cross-sectional study

Aim: Various potential drug -drug interaction screening software programs or databases have been developed and implemented as decision support tools to assist clinicians. The risk of adverse drug reactions, hospitalization, compliance problems, and potential drug -drug interactions increases with age. Our research aimed to detect potential drug -drug interactions in elderly patients over 85 and compare the software programs used to detect interactions. Material and Methods: Prescriptions of elderly patients over the age of 85 who received their medications from five different community pharmacies in Konya, T & uuml;rkiye, in 2022 were retrospectively examined. The software programs Medscape (R), Drugs (R), Micromedex (R), and LexiComp (R) were used to detect potential drug -drug interactions and reveal common interactions in the patients. The compatibility of the programs was also determined. Results: A total of 307 patients (43.3% male and 56.7% female) were included in this study. While Micromedex (R) detected a total of 920 interactions in the total sample, Medscape (R) detected 1,876, Drugs (R) detected 1,632, and LexiComp (R) detected 1,414. However, LexiComp (R) detected the most contraindications. Regarding the compatibility of the four software programs, Kendall's W value was calculated as 0.79, and the statistical significance was determined (p <0.05). Discussion: Medscape (R), Drugs (R), Micromedex (R), and LexiComp (R) software programs used to detect potential drug -drug interactions in the elderly exhibit high compatibility with each other. It is recommended that clinicians use more than one software program to determine potential drug -drug interactions for rational drug use.