Evaluation of drug information resources for drug-ethanol and drug-tobacco interactions.

OBJECTIVE

The research evaluated point-of-care drug interaction resources for scope, completeness, and consistency in drug-ethanol and drug-tobacco content.

METHODS

In a cross-sectional analysis, 2 independent reviewers extracted data for 108 clinically relevant interactions using 7 drug information resources (Clinical Pharmacology Drug Interaction Report, Facts & Comparisons eAnswers, Lexicomp Interactions, Micromedex Drug Interactions, and ). Scope (presence of an entry), completeness (content describing mechanism, clinical effects, severity, level of certainty, and course of action for each present interaction; up to 1 point per assessed item for a total possible score of 5 points), and consistency (similarity among resources) were evaluated.

RESULTS

Fifty-three drug-ethanol and 55 drug-tobacco interactions were analyzed. Drug-ethanol interaction entries were most commonly present in Lexicomp (84.9%), Clinical Pharmacology (83.0%), and (73.6%), compared to other resources (<0.05). Drug-tobacco interactions were more often covered in Micromedex (56.4%), (56.4%), Drug Interaction Facts (43.6%), and Clinical Pharmacology (41.8%) (<0.001). Overall completeness scores were higher for Lexicomp, Micromedex, and Facts & Comparisons (median 5/5 points, interquartile range [IQR] 5 to 5, <0.001) for drug-ethanol and for Micromedex (median 5/5 points, IQR 5 to 5, <0.05) for drug-tobacco, compared to other resources. and Micromedex were among the highest scoring resources for both drug-ethanol (73.7%, 68.6%) and drug-tobacco (75.0%, 32.3%) consistency.

CONCLUSIONS

Scope and completeness were high for drug-ethanol interactions, but low for drug-tobacco interactions. Consistency was highly variable across both interaction types.