Journal of Pharmacovigilance

Abstract

The Role of Multidrug Interactions in the Safety of Pharmacotherapy for Concomitant Parkinson’s Disease and Arterial Hypertension in Poland

Anna Bitner, Pawel Zalewski, Julia L Newton and Jacek J Klawe

Purpose: Multidrug interactions are amongst to the most frequent problems of pharmacotherapy. Such potentially harmful interactions are likely to occur in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients treated with concomitant arterial hypertension. The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence of interactions between selected antiparkinson and hypotensive agents. Methods: The analysis included data on the pharmacotherapy of PD and arterial hypertension, obtained from 80 men and women, diagnosed with Hoehn and Yahr stage II and III. However, the table presented data refer to persondrugs (n=186), as some of the respondents were prescribed more than one antiparkinson and/or hypotensive agent. Results: A total of 53 (28.5%) person-interactions were documented in the study group, among them 20 (10.8%) minor, 28 (25.8%) moderate and 5 (28.5%) major ones. The presence of interactions was documented in 37 (46.3%) patients. The number of different interactions present in a single patient amounted to three (n=3, 3.8%), two (n=10, 12.5%), one (n=24, 30.0%). Conclusions: Currently, we lack any detailed guidelines regarding pharmacotherapy of arterial hypertension and selection of hypotensive agents for patients with PD. Achieving desired hypotensive effect and reduction of adverse events resulting from drug-to-drug interactions constitute prerequisites of efficacious hypotensive treatment in patients with PD.