Interaktioner vid behandling med antihypertensiva läkemedel : En litteraturstudie om förekomst av interaktioner hos patienter som behandlas för hypertoni

Sammanfattning: Hypertension is defined as a systolic blood pressure of ≥140 mmHg and/or a diastolic blood pressure of  ≥90 mmHg. The incidence in the Swedish population is 27%. Hypertension becomes one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality as it increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The cause of hypertension isn’t known yet, but risk factors such as age and obesity have been identified. Hypertension is treated by lifestyle change or by pharmacological treatment. Angiotensen converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs), calcium channel blockers and thiazide diuretics are the different drugs that are primarily used for treating of hypertension. The most common definition of polypharmacy is  the use of five or more drugs within the same period of time and it’ss associated with an increased risk of interactions and side effects.  Patients with hypertension are characterized by old age, polypharmacy and increased number of hospital stays, making them particularly vulnerable to drug interactions. The blood pressure can be affected by drug-drug interactions between antihypertensive drugs and other medications may increase or decrease the lowering effect of the blood pressure.  The aim of this literature study is to evaluate the common interactions that may occur during treatment with antihypertensive drugs, and the prevalence of these interactions. Five studies were retrieved from the PubMed database and were then analyzed.  The prevalence of drug-drug interactions in each study was 48%, 71.5%, 21.14%, 90.6% and 83.42%. The majority of patients were between 40 and 60 years old and the number of prescriptions per patient was around 5. The results of this literature study show that the prevalence of potential drug interactions is high and that interactions involving atenolol, metoprolol, amlodipine, NSAIDs and insulin are commonly occurring. The results also show that polypharmacy, age and comorbidity significantly increases the risk of drug-drug interactions.