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Current Psychopharmacology

Author(s): Yasin Tayem*, Saeed Aljaberi, Ali Alfehaid, Abdulaziz Almekhyal, Haitham Jahrami, Mazen Ali and Suhaib Hattab

DOI: 10.2174/2211556010666210701164436

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Outpatient Psychotropic Drug Interactions in a Public Psychiatry Hospital in Bahrain: An Audit Study

Article ID: e010721194415 Pages: 6

  • * (Excluding Mailing and Handling)

Abstract

Background: Psychotropic polypharmacy is particularly common, which puts psychiatric patients at high risk for developing drug-drug interactions.

Objective: We aimed to study potential interactions between psychotropic medications prescribed within the outpatient psychiatry setting.

Methods: This was an audit study, which targeted a sample of outpatient prescriptions ordered within the outpatient clinics of the main psychiatry hospital in Bahrain over 2017. We studied the grades and correlates of interactions between psychotropic drugs.

Results: The total number of prescriptions in our sample was 992 (56.1% males, 43.9% females). Psychotropic polypharmacy was detected in 842 prescriptions (84.9%). Potential interactions between psychotropic drugs were observed in 550 prescriptions (56.4%). The degree of interaction was minor in 43 prescriptions (7.8%), significant in 419 prescriptions (76.2%), and serious in 88 prescriptions (16%). Schizoaffective disorder subjects were the most likely to suffer from interactions (64.6%), whereas prescriptions issued for those who had schizophrenia contained the least number of interactions (51.6%). The total number of interactions was strongly associated with polypharmacy (p < .001) and gender (p < .01), but not with age (p > .05) or diagnosis (p > .05).

Conclusion: High prevalence of polypharmacy and interactions between psychotropic medications were observed in our sample, particularly of the significant grade.

Keywords: Drug-drug interactions, polypharmacy, psychotropic drugs, plasma level, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder.

Graphical Abstract

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