Medications used in paediatric intensive care by continuous infusion: Do the technical aspects of the package inserts corroborate scientific evidence?

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE

Hospitalized paediatric patients are three times more likely to experience medication errors with the potential to cause harm, when they are compared to adults. The lack of research in paediatrics, difficulties that are derived as indications and the parameters of safety and effectiveness of pharmacological therapy in children. To analyse whether the technical and legal aspects of the package insert for medicines used in paediatric intensive care units (ICU) using a continuous infusion (CI) pump corroborate the recommendations of clinical protocols and legal provisions.

METHODS

A documentary study, in which technical and legal information contained in the package inserts of medications commonly used via CI in neopediatric ICUs was analysed. The consultation of the medication package insert was carried out through the electronic portal of the National Health Surveillance Agency (Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária - ANVISA). Information on the use of medications in the neonatal and paediatric populations via CI was sought in the medication package insert. To analyse the legal aspects, ANVISA's RDC no. 47/2009 was used. In order to compare the technical information, the Micromedex NeoFax®, Micromedex Paediatrics®, and Lexicomp® databases were consulted.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Of the 13 medications analysed, 46% (n = 6) had some non-compliance with RDC 47/2009. Only 46% (n = 6) of the medications are indicated for paediatric use and only the medication package insert for midazolam (7.7%) contained the information considered essential for use via CI in paediatrics.

WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION

This is an innovative study that identifies the weaknesses of the medication package inserts for medications used by CI in paediatric ICUs. Failure to comply with legal recommendations can make medication administration difficult and increase the probability that errors will occur; and the absence of specific technical information can make care difficult and compromise patient safety. It is important that there is supervision by regulatory agencies and the contribution of health professionals so that non-conformities are reported and corrected, to guarantee safe care for paediatric patients in intensive care.

Alendronato de sódio, levotiroxina e inibidores da bomba de prótons

Introdução: As interações medicamentosas podem alterar a segurança e/ou efetividade no tratamento das doenças. Alguns medicamentos precisam ser utilizados em jejum e a literatura apresenta informações divergentes sobre o real impacto clínico do uso destes no mesmo horário. Objetivos: Analisar as evidências sobre a relevância clínica de potenciais interações entre inibidores da bomba de prótons (IBPs), levotiroxina e alendronato de sódio. Métodos: Realizou-se uma revisão narrativa de artigos disponíveis na base de dados PubMed, além de consulta de potenciais interações medicamentosas em fontes de informações sobre medicamentos disponíveis na World Wide Web. Resultados: Em apenas três das 17 fontes de informações consultadas foi relatado uma possível redução dos níveis plasmáticos e/ou da efetividade da levotiroxina, quando administrada de forma concomitante com omeprazol ou outro da classe. Somente uma fonte relata leve redução dos níveis plasmáticos de alendronato de sódio por interação com a levotiroxina, e apenas duas fontes evidenciam possível redução do efeito terapêutico do alendronato de sódio por interação com IBPs. Apenas dois estudos relatam resultados significativos relacionados à existência de interação entre levotiroxina ou alendronato no uso concomitante de IBPs. Em todas as fontes consultadas, as interações são descritas como menores, leves, moderadas ou de significado desconhecido. Todas as fontes de informações sugerem a continuidade da terapia para manejo da interação. Conclusão: Até o momento não há evidências robustas que demonstrem impedimento de uso de inibidores da bomba de prótons, levotiroxina e alendronato de sódio no mesmo horário, sendo essencial o acompanhamento dos parâmetros clínicos e laboratoriais.

Medication regimen complexity of coronary artery disease patients

Objective:

To determine the factors associated with the high complexity of medication regimen in patients with coronary artery disease.

Methods:

A cross-sectional study was carried out in a multiprofessional cardiology outpatient clinic, in the Secondary Care of the Unified Health System, where sociodemographic (age, sex, and education), clinical (number of health conditions, cardiovascular diagnoses, and comorbidities) and pharmacotherapeutic (adherence, polypharmacy, and cardiovascular polypharmacy) characteristics were collected. These were related to complexity of medication regimen, measured through the medication regimen complexity index. The classification of high complexity of medication regimen was carried out using standardization for the older adults and stratification for adult patients, as suggested in the literature.

Results:

The total complexity medication regimen of 148 patients had a median of 17.0 (interquartile range of 10.5). In the univariate analysis, the factors associated with high complexity were heart failure, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, five or more diseases, and non-adherence to treatment. In the final model, after logistic regression, there was a statistically significant association (p<0.05) with the variables diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and non-adherence.

Conclusion:

The high complexity of medication regimen in patients with coronary artery disease was associated with the presence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and reports of non-adherence to treatment.

Barriers and enablers to deprescribing benzodiazepines in older adults: elaborating an instrument and validating its content

OBJECTIVE: To elaborate and validate an instrument on barriers and enablers to deprescribing benzodiazepines in the patient’s perspective. METHODS: This study was conducted in 3 stages: (1) a methodological stage, (2) a semi-structured pilot interview with 25 older adults undergoing clonazepam deprescribing, and (3) content validation with the Delphi technique. Content validation was performed by 50 specialists with degrees and/or experience with primary health care and/or health care of older adults, such as physicians, pharmacists, and nurses. For evaluating the obtained results, we analyzed the concordance of evaluations with the coefficient of content validity (CCV). We considered values equal to or higher than 0.8 as acceptable levels of concordance. RESULTS: The instrument was considered validated in the first round of evaluation, where all items obtained a CCV of more than 0.8 in the specialists’ assessment. Nevertheless, they proposed improvements that were incorporated to the final version of the questionnaire. CONCLUSION: The instrument represents an important tool to be used by health care professionals for optimizing benzodiazepine deprescribing, with suitable levels of clarity and validity.

Deprescribing benzodiazepines: Do Brazilian package inserts address this issue?

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the presence and quality of content on drug deprescribing in Brazilian package inserts for benzodiazepine drugs. METHODS: Documentary study where we analyzed data on deprescribing extracted from electronic package inserts of drugs containing benzodiazepines; these documents were available at the Brazilian Health Surveillance Agency website. Our search was performed independently by 2 researchers who used the following keywords: “deprescription,” “withdrawal,” and “tapering.” The deprescribing plan, when presented by the package insert, was compared to deprescribing protocols for benzodiazepines found in the literature. Moreover, we assessed the presence of guidance on the maximum length of treatment and risks of long-term use. RESULTS: We found 12 package inserts for benzodiazepines and 100% of them suggested gradual withdrawal; only 1 (8.33%) suggested a systematized deprescribing plan. One document (8.33%) did not offer guidance on maximum treatment duration. Eleven (91.67%) had the information on long-term use possibly causing dependence or tolerance, and 1 (8.33%) did not describe the risks of continuous use. CONCLUSIONS: It is known that benzodiazepines should be withdrawn in a gradual and schematized manner, but package inserts do not currently bring this information in detail. It is of utmost importance that health professionals be educated on their conduct, hence the necessity for updating medication package inserts.