Data collection
The data were collected from the medical records of enrolled patients.
Age, gender, body mass index (BMI), past medical history, length of
hospital stay, intensive care unit (ICU) admission (directly or after
admission to the ward), patients’ outcome (discharge or death), and the
medications prescribed during 24-48 h of hospital admission were
gathered. Patients who stayed in the hospital for less then 48 h were
excluded. The Lexi-Interact database (Lexicomp®, Wolters Kluwer, Hudson,
Ohio, United States, available on UpToDate, 2020) was applied to assess
pDDIs. Based on the severity, the interactions were categorized into
five categories including A (unknown), B (minor), C (moderate), D
(major), and X (contraindicated) [11]. The reliability of the
interactions was scaled as excellent (E = the interaction has been
clearly demonstrated in well-controlled studies), good (G = the studies
strongly suggest that interaction exists; however, the proof of
well-controlled studies is lacking), and fair (F = available evidence is
poor, but clinicians suspect interaction on the basis of pharmacologic
considerations; or, evidence is good for an interaction of
pharmacologically similar drug) [12, 13].