CYP1A2 and tobacco interaction: a major pharmacokinetic challenge during smoking cessation.

Smoking cessation is underestimated in terms of drug interactions. Abrupt smoking cessation is common in cases of emergency hospitalization and restrictions of movement. Tobacco is a known cytochrome P450 1A2 (CYP1A2) inducer, its consumption and withdrawal can lead to major pharmacokinetic drug interactions. Nevertheless, references do exist, but may have different results between them. The objective of our work was to establish the broadest and most consensual list as possible of CYP1A2 substrates treatments and propose a pharmacological approach. We searched the widest possible list of CYP1A2 substrates based on various international references. We compared the references and defined probability and reliability scores of our results to sort the substances based on the scores. For the 245 substances identified as CYP1A2 substrates, we focused on the 63 CYP1A2 substrates with both probability and reliability scores >50%. Our work establishes adaptive pharmacological approaches for the management of patients initiating smoking cessation which must be integrated into the management of smoking cessation. Pharmacologists can now adopt adaptive pharmacological approaches to complement patient-specific clinical information about smoking cessation by considering pharmacokinetic risk. This work establishes an unprecedented list. It should guide in the care of patients initiating smoking cessation to prevent pharmacokinetic drug interactions.

Use of psychotropic drug urine test strips in opiate maintenance therapy: A clinical assessment of its advantages.

BACKGROUND: Methadone and buprenorphine are the 2 opiate maintenance treatments (OMTs) available in France. According to good clinical practices, a full clinical and biological assessment is required before deciding to initiate or renew an OMT. For methadone, this assessment includes psychoactive drug consumption investigation through an initial interview completed by a systematic urine test mandatory before starting methadone treatment. In case of buprenorphine prescription, the situation is less clear and the urine test was not systematically performed. This work aims at evaluating changes in the therapeutic strategy brought by the systematic use of urine strips for detecting drug consumptions. METHODS: During 1 month, for each case of OMT renewal, physicians belonging to the 3 types of prescribing structures in France (general medicine, specialized centers for drug addict patients, and specialized centers for drug addict patients in prison) had to complete a specific questionnaire about prescription renewal. This questionnaire contained 2 parts. The first part was completed by the physicians before the urine test strip realization. The second part was completed by the same physicians at the end of the consultation, after obtaining the results from the urine test strip. A change between parts 1 and 2 of the questionnaire concerning OMT prescription, dialogue with the patient, associated psychotropic drug prescription, and orientation were considered as a change in therapeutic strategy. RESULTS: A total of 429 questionnaires have been collected. Among them, 315 showed at least 1 change in therapeutic strategy (73.4%). CONCLUSIONS: This study highlighted the important benefits brought by the urine test strip in managing patients under opiate maintenance treatment. Urine test strips provided an immediate answer that allowed physicians to optimize their therapeutic strategy. However, regulatory evolutions would be necessary to ease their implantation.

French Experience with Buprenorphine : Do Physicians Follow the Guidelines?

Opiate dependence affects about 15,479,000 people worldwide. The effectiveness of opiate substitution treatments (OST) has been widely demonstrated. Buprenorphine plays a particular role in opiate dependence care provision in France. It is widely prescribed by physicians and national opiate substitution treatment guidelines have been available since 2004. In order to study the prescribing of buprenorphine, we used a questionnaire sent by email, to a large sample of physicians. These physicians were either in practice, or belonged to an addiction treatment network or a hospital. The main objective of this work was to measure the extent to which the theoretical, clinical attitude of physicians towards prescribing buprenorphine (BHD) complied with the statutory guidelines. We showed that the physicians we interviewed rarely took into account the guidelines regarding buprenorphine prescription. The actual prescribing of Buprenorphine differed from the guidelines. Only 42% of independent Family Physicians (FPs), working outside the national health care system, had prescribed buprenorphine as a first-time prescription and 40% of FPs do not follow up patients on buprenorphine. In terms of compliance with the guidelines, 55% of FPs gave theoretical answers that only partially complied with the guidelines. The variations in compliance with the guidelines was noted according to different variables and took into particular account whether the physician were affiliated to a network or in training.

[Diagnostic of pharmacodependence: comparison between patients and doctors approaches. Introduction]. / Diagnostic de pharmacodépendance : comparaison des points de vue du patient et du médecin.

UNLABELLED: The aim of our study is to evaluate the extent of agreement between pharmacodependence to benzodiazepines, as diagnosed by doctors and as self evaluated by patients, using DSM-IV dependence criteria. Method. This is a prospective study. INCLUSION CRITERIA: prescription of a benzodiazepines or related substances. DATA COLLECTION: doctor questionnaire and patient questionnaire filled anonymously and independently. Main judgment criterion: rate of agreement between doctor diagnosis (is this patient dependent?), and patient evaluation (dependence is positive if at least 3 of the DSM-IV items are met). Results. One hundred and twenty-eight patients were included by 11 doctors: 89 (69.5%) cases of agreement between doctor diagnosis and patient self evaluation and 39 (30.5%) cases of disagreement Discussion. There is an over assessment of dependence: doctors diagnose a dependence in 72% of the disagreement cases although there is none according to the self evaluation; the over assessment shows how difficult it is to evaluate dependence in general practice medicine.