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WEDNESDAY, Oct. 30, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Many patients take over-the-counter (OTC) products with potentially serious interactions with the direct-acting oral anticoagulant apixaban, according to research published online Oct. 28 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Derjung M. Tarn, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of California in Los Angeles, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional survey among 791 patients prescribed apixaban to examine the prevalence of use and knowledge of OTC products with potentially serious apixaban interactions.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that 97.5 percent of participants reported OTC product use. Overall, 33 percent took at least one OTC product with potentially serious apixaban interactions daily\/most days and 6.7 percent took multiple products. A total of 14.7 percent of participants took aspirin daily; of these participants, 64.7 percent also consumed other potentially interacting OTC products and 10.4 percent took aspirin some days\/as needed. Ibuprofen\/naproxen was taken daily\/most days and occasionally by 1.8 and 28.5 percent, respectively. More than one in five (20.2 percent) took dietary supplements with potentially serious interactions daily\/most days. About two-thirds (66 percent) of respondents were uncertain or incorrect about the potential for increased bleeding with combined use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and apixaban. Greater OTC product use was seen in association with less knowledge about OTC products with potentially serious interactions (odds ratio, 0.54).<\/p>\n
“This study demonstrates that patients have limited knowledge about potential serious interactions between OTC products and apixaban,” the authors write.<\/p>\n
Several authors disclosed financial ties to pharmaceutical companies, including BMS\/Pfizer Alliance, which provided funding for the study.<\/p>\n
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