Drug interactions in patients with alcohol use disorder: results from a real-world study on an addiction-specific ward.

Background: The majority of patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) regularly take medication. Alcohol interacts negatively with many commonly prescribed drugs. However, little is known about the characteristics and frequency of potential alcohol-medication and drug-drug interactions in patients with AUD.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the prevalence and characteristics of drug interactions in patients with AUD during withdrawal therapy on an addiction-specific ward.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Methods: Medication charts were analyzed and screened for potential alcohol-medication and drug-drug interactions. For the screening of potential alcohol-medication interactions, the drugs.com classification was utilized and potential drug-drug interactions were identified using the mediQ electronic interaction program.

Results: In our study, almost two-thirds (66.3%; 1089/1643) of all patient cases were prescribed at least one drug that could potentially interact with alcohol. Four percent of all alcohol-medication interactions were classified as severe, 91.8% as moderate, and 4.3% as mild. Drug classes commonly involved in serious interactions with alcohol were analgesics and drugs used in diabetes. A total of 811 potential drug-drug interactions were identified, of which 3.3% were classified as severe and 96.5% as moderate. Psychoanaleptics (ATC N06) and psycholeptics (ATC N05) were most frequently associated with moderate to severe interactions.

Conclusion: Potential alcohol-medication and drug-drug interactions are common in hospitalized patients with AUD. Improvements in the quality of prescribing should focus on the use of psychotropic drugs.