Medication mixing a problem for heart failure patients

August 2, 2016   |   Evidence in Integrative Healthcare

The American Heart Association (AHA) issued a scientific statement on July 11, 2016 urging providers caring for heart failure patients to discuss ALL the medications the patients taking to reduce the risk of exacerbating heart failure. Dr. Robert L. Page II corresponded with Reuters Health by e-mail and noted, “When a patient takes at least four medications the risk for a drug-drug interaction increases to 38 percent; this number increases to 82 percent when patients are taking seven or more medications, which many patients with heart failure do.”

The statement from the AHA encourages providers to discuss all prescription medications, over-the-counter medications, and nutritional or vitamin supplements with their patients at every visit, as some of these can have unintentional side effects or additives that are contraindicated for heart failure patients.

A list of medications that can worsen heart failure is in the July 11, 2016 early edition of the Circulation.