Citation

Ordak M, Nasierowski T. Lancet Psychiatry 2019; 6(12): 984.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of Warsaw, Poland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/S2215-0366(19)30432-8

PMID

31777348

Abstract

In The Lancet Psychiatry, Morgan Philbin and Pia Mauro report an increase in the use of non-prescription drugs since 2000.1 Since 2010, this problem has largely affected patients who simultaneously take new psychoactive substances and other drugs.2 As a result, polypharmacotherapy is included in the treatment. This factor increases the risk of re-admission of the same patients to hospital and the resulting costs of treatment—eg, in schizophrenia3. Incorrect drug administration, known as polypragmasia, can cause severe therapeutic complications.4 We would like to draw attention to various types of web-based applications (eg, Medscape, Micromedex, Epocrates) that enable clinicians to search for information on the mutual effect of substances when administered simultaneously, and that are, unfortunately, largely neglected by psychiatrists globally.
Between 2010 and 2019 we collected data annually from qualified psychiatrists (n=1052) at several medical universities (orally and online) and psychiatric conferences (orally) around the world, although most were based in Europe and the USA, and via social networks, like LinkedIn. Every year, different people specialising in psychiatry were surveyed. Specifically, when asked about their use of pharmacological applications to search for information on the mutal effect of substances when administered simultaneously, 904 (86%) participants believed that too little emphasis is put on polypharmacy ...

Language: en