Retrospective analysis of potential drug drug interactions in kidney transplant patients

Objective: The objectives of this study were to identify drugs with the potential to interact with narrow-therapeutic immunosuppressive agents in kidney transplant patients and to grade these interactions. We also discussed the potential consequences of common interactions and raised awareness of the use of alternative therapies. Method: Potential drug-drug interactions were retrospectively analysed in 412 patients with available epicrisis information during their inpatient treatment in organ transplant clinics after renal transplantation surgery and were graded using the "drugs.com" drug interaction database. Results: In this study, which analysed treatment protocols for major potential drug-drug interactions, the mean interaction counts were 2.65 and 5.05 in patients undergoing living and deceased donor transplants, respectively. When the number of medications used during treatment was less than 15 and more than 16, the mean interaction counts were 1.42 and 3.41, respectively. When the post-transplant hospital stay was less than 10 days and more than 11 days, the mean interaction counts were 2.27 and 3.40, respectively; the difference in interaction counts between the groups was statistically significant. However, no significant difference was found in the number of major drug-drug interactions between genders and age groups. Among the 10 most common potential drug-drug interactions, the most common (26.3%) was associated with the concomitant use of mycophenolate mofetil and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Conclusion: It was concluded that donor type, total number of medications used by the patient, and duration of hospital stay after transplantation may be risk factors affecting the frequency of major drug-drug interactions, but gender and age differences did not significantly change the number of major drug-drug interactions. Key words: renal transplantation, immunsupressive treatment, drug interactions