Women and Drug Interactions

Women are at an increased risk of adverse drug reactions, compared with men. This is partly because they're more likely to use multiple medications and dietary supplements, and partly because of sex-based differences in metabolism, anatomy and hormone levels, according to the Society for Women's Health Research. Women need only look in their medicine cabinets for potentially problematic combinations, warn experts. For example, oral contraceptives can fail, resulting in pregnancy, when taken with the antibiotics penicillin, rifampin or tetracycline.