Assessment of the consistency among three drug compendia in listing and ranking of drug-drug interactions.

Inconsistent information about drug-drug interactions can cause variations in prescribing, and possibly increase the incidence of morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to assess whether there is an inconsistency in drug-drug interaction listing and ranking in three authoritative, freely accessible online drug information sources: The British National Formulary; The Compendium about Drugs Licensed for Use in the United Kingdom (the Electronic Medicines Compendium) and the Compendium about Drugs Licensed for Use in the United States (the DailyMed). Information on drug-drug interactions for thirty drugs which have a high or medium potential for interactions have been selected for analysis. In total, 1971 drug-drug interactions were listed in all three drug information sources, of these 992 were ranked as the interactions with the potential of clinical significance. Comparative analysis identified that 63.98% of interactions were listed in only one drug information source, and 66.63% of interactions were ranked in only one drug information source. Only 15.12% listed and 11.19% ranked interactions were identified in all three information sources. Intraclass correlation coefficient indicated a weak correlation among the three drug information sources in listing (0.366), as well as in ranking drug interactions (0.467). This study showed inconsistency of information on drug-drug interaction for the selected drugs in three authoritative, freely accessible online drug information sources. The application of a uniform methodology in assessment of information, and then the presentation of information in a standardized format is required to prevent and adequately manage drug-drug interactions.