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  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">143</journal-id>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="index">urn:lsid:arphahub.com:pub:892805cc-c5d0-571f-8841-3ba335035073</journal-id>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title xml:lang="en">Review of Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacokinetics – International Edition</journal-title>
        <abbrev-journal-title xml:lang="en">RCPP</abbrev-journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <issn pub-type="ppub">1011-6583</issn>
      <issn pub-type="epub">2945-1922</issn>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>PHARMAKON-Press</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.61873/HZPT7878</article-id>
      <article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">34931</article-id>
      <article-categories>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
          <subject>Systematic Review</subject>
        </subj-group>
      </article-categories>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>Prevalence, risk factors, and safety interventions upon prescription errors in addiction substitution therapy: a systematic review</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group content-type="authors">
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Manaridou</surname>
            <given-names>Kyriakoula</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Eberlein</surname>
            <given-names>Jost</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Konstantakopoulou</surname>
            <given-names>Olympia</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A2">2</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Skitsou</surname>
            <given-names>Alexandra</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A2">2</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Galanis</surname>
            <given-names>Petros</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A3">3</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Charalambous</surname>
            <given-names>Georgios</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A2">2</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Dokos</surname>
            <given-names>Charalambos</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A4">4</xref>
        </contrib>
      </contrib-group>
      <aff id="A1">
        <label>1</label>
        <addr-line content-type="verbatim">St. Josef Psychiatric Hospital AMEOS, Oberhausen, Germany</addr-line>
        <institution>St. Josef Psychiatric Hospital AMEOS</institution>
        <addr-line content-type="city">Oberhausen</addr-line>
        <country>Germany</country>
      </aff>
      <aff id="A2">
        <label>2</label>
        <addr-line content-type="verbatim">Department of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, Frederick University, Nicosia, Cyprus</addr-line>
        <institution>Department of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, Frederick University</institution>
        <addr-line content-type="city">Nicosia</addr-line>
        <country>Cyprus</country>
      </aff>
      <aff id="A3">
        <label>3</label>
        <addr-line content-type="verbatim">Department of Nursing, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece</addr-line>
        <institution>Department of Nursing, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens</institution>
        <addr-line content-type="city">Athens</addr-line>
        <country>Greece</country>
      </aff>
      <aff id="A4">
        <label>4</label>
        <addr-line content-type="verbatim">Department of Acute and Emergency Medicine, Klinikum Luedenscheid, Luedenscheid, Germany</addr-line>
        <institution>Department of Acute and Emergency Medicine, Klinikum Luedenscheid</institution>
        <addr-line content-type="city">Luedenscheid</addr-line>
        <country>Germany</country>
      </aff>
      <author-notes>
        <fn fn-type="edited-by">
          <p>Academic editor: </p>
        </fn>
      </author-notes>
      <pub-date pub-type="collection">
        <year>2025</year>
      </pub-date>
      <pub-date pub-type="epub">
        <day>31</day>
        <month>08</month>
        <year>2025</year>
      </pub-date>
      <volume>39</volume>
      <issue>2</issue>
      <fpage>95</fpage>
      <lpage>103</lpage>
      <uri content-type="arpha" xlink:href="http://openbiodiv.net/A630A784-FBA4-5749-AD5C-C708F99BA035">A630A784-FBA4-5749-AD5C-C708F99BA035</uri>
      <history>
        <date date-type="received">
          <day>13</day>
          <month>07</month>
          <year>2025</year>
        </date>
        <date date-type="accepted">
          <day>13</day>
          <month>08</month>
          <year>2025</year>
        </date>
      </history>
      <permissions>
        <copyright-statement>Kyriakoula Manaridou, Jost Eberlein, Olympia Konstantakopoulou, Alexandra Skitsou, Petros Galanis, Georgios Charalambous, Charalambos Dokos</copyright-statement>
        <license license-type="creative-commons-attribution" xlink:href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" xlink:type="simple">
          <license-p>This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.</license-p>
        </license>
      </permissions>
      <abstract>
        <label>Abstract</label>
        <p>Background: Prescription errors in substitution therapy for addiction treatment, including opioid substitution therapy (OST) with methadone and buprenorphine and pharmacotherapy for alcohol use disorder (AUD) with naltrexone, acamprosate, and disulfiram, pose a critical patient safety issue. These errors are a major contributing factor to adverse drug events (ADEs), poor treatment adherence, discontinuation, and severe outcomes such as fatal overdoses. Additional factors such as miscommunication, inadequate training, and complex medication regimens exacerbate the risk. <i>Aim:</i> This systematic review aims to evaluate the prevalence, causes, and consequences of prescription errors in substitution therapy for addiction treatment. It explores the roles of healthcare professionals, system-level factors and their impact on patient safety, focusing on adherence, treatment outcomes, and ADEs. <i>Methodology</i> : A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar for studies published between January 2000 and July 2025. Studies addressing prescription errors in OST or AUD pharmacotherapy, including generic or therapeutic substitution, were included. Data on error types, prevalence, contributing factors, consequences, and interventions were extracted. Qualitative data underwent thematic analysis, while quantitative data were synthesized descriptively. <i>Results:</i> Prescription error rates in OST varied widely, from 1.7% in older adults to 30.3% in overdose reports, with methadone and buprenorphine implicated most frequently. Common errors included incorrect dosing, dispensing errors, and inadequate monitoring, leading to respiratory depression, overdose, and treatment failure. Key contributing factors were miscommunication, insufficient training, frequent formulary changes, and patient-related factors such as cognitive impairment. Pharmacist-led interventions, digital prescribing systems, and standardized protocols significantly reduced errors. Data on AUD pharmacotherapy errors were sparse, highlighting a critical research gap. <i>Conclusion:</i> Prescription errors in substitution therapy pose significant risks to patient safety, primarily due to systemic and human factors. Enhanced training, standardized protocols, and digital tools are effective mitigation strategies. Further research is needed to quantify errors in AUD pharmacotherapy and develop targeted interventions.</p>
      </abstract>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
</article>
