Introduction:

Patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit, especially the elderly, are particularly exposed to drug interactions that prolong the QT interval.

AIM:

To determine the incidence of potential QT-prolonging drug interactions (IMQT) and their clinical and therapeutic predictors in elderly patients hospitalized in an intensive care unit.

Methodology:

Retrospective cohort conducted in an adult intensive care unit. Medical records of patients aged 60 years or older with a minimum hospital stay of 24 hours and who used two or more medications were included. CredibleMeds was used to classify drugs at risk of prolonging the QT interval; then, Micromedex was accessed to identify and classify drug interactions. Clinical and therapeutic predictors of interactions were examined using a multiple logistic regression model.

Results:

The incidence of potential IMQT was 43.9 %. The drugs most frequently combined in potential MTMI were ondansetron (25 %), quetiapine (22.5 %), amiodarone (18.6 %) and haloperidol (17.5 %). The most frequent potential MTMI were haloperidol + ondansetron (25.4 %) followed by the dual ondansetron + quetiapine (13.1 %). Potential IMQT predictors were use of polypharmacy (p=0.002), antipsychotics (p<0.001), antidepressants (p<0.001) and antiarrhythmics (p=0.002).

Conclusion:

The management of IMQT requires an approach based on individual risk factors and also, necessarily, on generic conducts related to biochemical tests, installation of cardiac monitors, periodic electrocardiograms and use of warning systems for IMQT.