TY - JOUR
TI - Adverse drug reactions as a cause of hospital admissions: A 6-month
experience in a single center in Greece
AU - Alexopoulou, Alexandra
AU - Dourakis, Spyros. P.
AU - Mantzoukis,
AU - Demosthenes
AU - Pitsariotis, Thomas
AU - Kandyli, Anna
AU - Deutsch,
AU - Melanie
AU - Archimandritis, Athanasios J.
JO - European Journal of Internal Medicine
PY - 2008
VL - 19
TODO - 7
SP - 505-510
PB - Elsevier
SN - 0953-6205
TODO - 10.1016/j.ejim.2007.06.030
TODO - Adverse drug reactions; Emergency admissions; Elderly patients
TODO - Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a significant cause of
morbidity and mortality.
Methods: A prospective study was conducted over a 6-month period. All
patients consecutively admitted were enrolled in the study. Analysis
included: (1) an evaluation of the frequency of ADR-related hospital
admissions and their causality, severity, and preventability; (2) a
description of the type of drugs involved; (3) a report of the most
common clinical manifestations related to these ADRs; and (4) an
assessment of the factors that were predictive of ADRs.
Results: Seventy of the 548 admissions (12.8%) were related to an ADR.
Hemorrhage represented the most common ADR (37.3%), followed by
metabolic and renal events (10.8% each). The drugs most often involved
were non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), followed by
diuretics, aspirin, oral anticoagulants, and oral hypoglycemic agents, A
comparison between ADR and non-ADR-related admissions showed that mean
number of medications and age were significantly higher for patients
admitted for an ADR than for those who were not. Gender, chronic disease
at admission, days of hospitalization, cognitive impairment, renal
insufficiency, physical activity impairment, and use of psychoactive
drugs did not differ between the two groups. In the multivariate
analysis, number of drugs was the only independent predictor of
ADR-related hospital admission (OR = 1.064, 95% CI 1.019-1.109). In 13
of 70 (18.6%) ADR-related hospital admissions, ADRs were coded as
severe.
Conclusions: ADRs are common causes of hospital admissions and may have
important consequences. The most important determinant for ADR-related
hospital admissions is the number of drugs taken. (C) 2008 European
Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights
ER -