Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
50th ESCP Symposium on Clinical Pharmacy, Polypharmacy and ageing - highly individualized, interprofessional, person-centered care, Praha, Çek Cumhuriyeti, 19 - 21 Ekim 2022, cilt.44, ss.1512-1513
Are depression related drug interactions preventable in people with chronic diseases?
Background and Objective: It is a known fact that physical illnesses increase the risk of developing severe depressive illness (1). When mild, depression can be treated without medication, but when moderate or severe, people may need antidepressants (2). The advent of chronic diseases may lead to the use of many medications over time, increasing the risk of polypharmacy and drug-drug interactions (3). As part of the healthcare team, pharmacists can increase awareness about antidepressant related drug interactions and act a prominent role in helping identify individuals at risk and thereby prevent antidepressant related drug interactions without occuring. The purpose of this research was to determine the prevalence of depression and drugdrug interactions that may occur due to chronic diseases and multiple drug use in patients coming to various policlinics of a private hospital.
Method: A prospective observational study was carried out between 17–31 August 2021. Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and additional questions were applied via face to face.
Main outcome measures: Sociodemographic characteristics, chronic diseases and regularly used medicines of the participants. Assessment of PHQ-9.
Results: A total of 72 people were participated in this study with a mean age of 38.65 ± 3.94 years constituting 39 (54.2%) femaless. 35 (48.6%) of the participants applied to the internal medicine polyclinic. 22 (30.6%) of the participants have at least one chronic disease and 14 (19.4%) of the participants have used antidepressant at least once in a lifetime. 9 (69.2%) of the 13 participants who has been diagnosed with depression at least once in a lifetime have chronic diseases. The mean PHQ-9 score of the participants was 11.99 ± 4.62. Even though 47 (65.3%) of the patients have moderate to severe depression only 6 (8.3%) of them were regularly using antidepressant. Among the 42 drugs used by the participants, 8 (19%) drug-drug interactions belonging to category C were detected, and 6 (75%) of them were the interaction of antidepressants with other drugs. Escitalopram 4 (67%) was the most commonly used antidepressant by the participants.
Conclusion: The results of this study has shown that only 6 (12.8%) of the 47 patients who have moderate to severe depressive symptoms were having treatment with antidepressants. Although this ratio is very low drug interactions of the antidepressants account for a large percentage of drug interactions (75%). Considering participants having moderate to severe depressive symptoms need to use antidepressant drugs, inrease in the drug-drug interactions is strongly possible. Pharmacists, the healthcare professionals who spend the longest time with patients can identify individuals at risk before depressive symptoms progress mild to severe and refer them to the physician at an early stage. Thereby there will be a chance for patients to be treated without medication and by this way antidepressant related drug interactions can be prevented without occuring.
Disclosure of Interest: None Declared.
References: (1) Goodwin GM, Phil D, et al. Depression and associated physical diseases and symptoms. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2006;8(2): 259–265.
(2) World Health Organization. Depression: definition. https://www. euro.who.int/en/health-topics/noncommunicable-diseases/pages/ news/news/2012/10/depression-in-europe/depression-definition Accessed 20.04.22.
(3) Sarımehmet D, Hintistan S. The prevelance of chronic diseases
and drug use among geriatric cases in Ardesen country of Rize
province. Bezmialem Science. 2017;5(3):93–100.