Exploring the Side Effects and Drug-Drug Interactions Resulting from Polypharmacy: A Case Study from Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy

• Issa E. A. Amara

  Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Zintan, Libya

  Author

  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0780-8737

• Malak Aburas

  Faculty of Medicine, Uni-versity of Gharyan, Libya

  Author

• Shaban E. A. Saad

  Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Tripoli, Libya

  Author

In clinical practice, it is standard procedure to assess potential drug-drug interactions (DDIs) when prescribing multiple medications to a single patient. The prevalence of DDIs escalates with an increased number of concurrently prescribed drugs. Polypharmacy, as defined by the World Health Organization, entails the administration of numerous medications simultaneously, or an excessive number of medications. We postulate a close association between polypharmacy and DDIs. This study presents a singular case investigation encompassing a comprehensive review of all prescribed and over-the-counter medications, medical history, and laboratory results, coupled with an extensive cross-referencing with existing literature to identify DDIs associated with polypharmacy. Our findings underscore a robust positive correlation between polypharmacy and DDIs, with a total of 83 documented instances. Notably, antibiotics emerged as the medication class responsible for the highest number of DDIs, accounting for 13 cases.

1. Issa E. A. Amara, Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Zintan, Libya

   Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, University of Zintan and University of Gharyan 

2. Malak Aburas , Faculty of Medicine, Uni-versity of Gharyan, Libya

   MSc. Student  

3. Shaban E. A. Saad , Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Tripoli, Libya

   Professor of Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmaceutics, University of Tripoli

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