Adverse drug reactions related to potential serious drug interactions in patients with cardiovascular diseases.

OBJECTIVE To assess the occurrence of adverse drug reactions associated with potential serious drug interactions identified in prescriptions of hospitalized patients with cardiovascular disease. METHOD A documentary, quantitative, and cross-sectional research study. Between August and September 2016, ninety-nine prescriptions of patients hospitalized for more than 48 hours in the cardiology ward of a hospital in Rio de Janeiro were analyzed. Drug interactions were evaluated by Micromedex®, and adverse events were identified through trackers and analyzed by specialists using the Naranjo Algorithm, by means of descriptive statistics. RESULTS Eighteen potential serious interactions were detected in 22 drug pairs, mainly simvastatin x anlodipine (18%) and enoxaparin x clopidogrel (18%). Of the 18 medical records investigated, four trackers were found and three probable adverse events (16.6%) were defined due to hemorrhagic changes in patients. CONCLUSION Drug interactions are likely to cause harm to the patient, which requires implementing barriers for the safety of the medication system.