Introduction:

The high consumption of medicines is associated with factors that favor their inappropriate use and possible consequences in the therapeutic objective, the control of the disease.

Objective:

To characterize possible drug interactions as a health concern for the general population and the healthcare system prescribers.

Methods:

Descriptive and cross-sectional study. Series of cases of practical consequences with elements of a therapeutic scheme. Population of 214 individuals consuming drugs, aged 18-89 years, randomly selected by stratified probabilistic sampling. The setting was the primary care clinics (9 and 10) and internal medicine consultations of hospital institutions in Cienfuegos, Cuba. The period was the first trimester of the year 2017. The variables investigated were the sociodemographic ones, type of prescription, pharmacological groups, and possible drug interactions.

Results:

The average consumption was 10.5 among elderly women. Out of 365 prescriptions, 54.2% were possible drug interactions, while those of the pharmacokinetic type (95.4%) predominated, together with those related to the metabolism of self-medication (34.3%), as well as the consumption of omeprazole or other nonpharmacological substance inhibitors of CYP-450, such as grapefruit juice and chronic alcohol consumption. Tobacco was the inducer that most identified (25, 58.1%), leading to possible therapeutic failures.

Conclusion:

Possible drug interactions were presented as an imperceptible health concern for the healthy and sick population. Healthcare prescribers generally do not take them into account, for which those at highest risk are related to oxidative metabolism inhibitors, which leads to possible damage to human health.

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