Drug-Drug Interactions and Their Association With Quality of Life in Patients With Hypertension

TL;DR

This study finds that drug interactions in hypertension patients are linked to lower quality of life and worse blood pressure control.

Contribution

The study establishes a novel link between drug-drug interactions and quality of life in hypertension patients.

Findings

Higher age and BMI correlate with more drug interactions and lower quality of life.

Only 43% of patients had controlled blood pressure, with uncontrolled patients being older.

Most drug interactions were significant or minor, with few being serious.

Abstract

Introduction

This study aimed to evaluate drug-drug interactions (DDIs) and their association with the quality of life in patients with hypertension.

Materials and methods

This cross-sectional study included 123 patients with hypertension. DDIs were evaluated using the Medscape Drug Interaction Checker Database (Medscape, New York, NY). The EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D) Quality of Life Scale was used for each patient.

Results

The overall blood pressure control rate (systolic/diastolic blood pressure levels, <140/90 mmHg) was 43% (53/123). The age of the patients with uncontrolled hypertension was higher than the patients with controlled hypertension (63.67 ± 11.00 vs. 58.42 ± 10.07 years; p = 0.007). The number of DDIs showed significant correlations, positively with age (r = 0.303, p = 0.001), total number of drugs (r = 0.784, p < 0.001), number of antihypertensive drugs (r = 0.640, p < 0.001), and body mass index (BMI) (r = 0.321, p < 0.001) and inversely with EQ-5D index score (r = −0.247, p = 0.006). The EQ-5D index and visual analog score were inversely correlated with age and BMI. Additional significant linear correlations between age and the total number of drugs, age and number of the antihypertensive drugs, the number of antihypertensive drugs and BMI, and the number of total drugs and BMI were detected. Of a total of 511 identified DDIs, 14 interactions in 12 patients were considered serious, 402 interactions in 82 patients were considered significant, and 95 interactions in 39 patients were considered minor.

Conclusions

This study supports that DDIs have important associations with antihypertensive treatment and the quality of life of patients. Higher age and BMI values were associated with a higher risk of DDIs and lower quality of life in patients with hypertension.