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Published on: August 30, 2018
Hospitalisations caused by adverse drug reactions (ADR): a meta-analysis of observational studies
1Scientific Institute Dutch Pharmacists (WINAp), P.O. Box 30460, 2500 GL The Hague, The Netherlands. h.j.m.beijer@winap.nl
Aim:
To establish the percentage hospital admission related to adverse drug reactions (ADRs) from the data available in the literature.
Method:
Literature search in the Medline database, meta-analysis.
Results:
From the literature it is revealed that a considerable part of all hospital admissions are related to adverse drug reactions. However, these data are not homogenous, i.e. larger studies display a lower percentage of ADR related hospital admission, while smaller studies display a higher percentage. Subgroup analysis showed that for elderly people the odds of being hospitalised by ADR related problems is 4 times higher than for younger ones (16.6% vs. 4.1%). A considerable part of these hospitalisations can be prevented. Subgroup analysis revealed that in the elderly up to 88% of the ADR related hospitalisations are preventable; for the non-elderly this is only 24%. Comparatively more elderly people are hospitalised than younger ones. Combining these findings, twice as much elderly people are hospitalised by ADR related problems than non-elderly, while preventability of ADR related hospitalisation might yield 7 times more people in the elderly than in the non-elderly. The estimation of the costs of ADR related hospitalisations in the Health Care system in The Netherlands is discussed.
Conclusion:
Many elderly people are hospitalised by ADR related problems; an important part of these hospitalisations can be avoided.
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