Developing practical recommendations for drug-disease interactions in
patients with hypertension
Abstract
Abstract Aims This study aims to assess the safety of medication that
can affect blood pressure in patients with hypertension and provide
practical recommendations for healthcare professionals. Methods For the
development of recommendations for the drug-disease interaction (DDSI)
hypertension, a six-step plan that combined literature selection and
multidisciplinary expert opinion was used. The process involved (1)
defining the scope of the DDSI and selecting relevant drugs, (2)
collecting evidence, (3) data-extraction, (4) reaching of expert
consensus, (5) publication and implementation of the recommendations in
healthcare systems and (6) updating of the information. Results An
increase of 10 mmHg in systolic blood pressure and 5 mmHg in diastolic
blood pressure was defined as clinically relevant. Corticosteroids,
danazol, and yohimbine caused a clinically relevant DDSI with
hypertension. Several other drugs with warnings for hypertension in the
official product information, were assessed to have no clinically
relevant DDSI due to minor influence or lack of data on blood pressure.
Drugs with evidence for a relevant change in blood pressure which are
prescribed under close monitoring of blood pressure according to
clinical guidelines, were deemed to be not clinically relevant for
signalling. Conclusions This study provides specific recommendations
that can be implemented directly in clinical practice, potentially
resulting in safer drug use in patients with hypertension and better
healthcare by reducing alert fatigue. Future research should focus on
evaluating the effectiveness of implementation strategies and their
impact on reducing unsafe use of medication in patients with
hypertension.