Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 13, 2026
Assessment of Dependence in Activities of Daily Living Among Older Patients in an Acute Care Unit
Published on: September 30, 2020
Adverse Drug Reactions Related to Drug Administration in Hospitalized Patients
Luca Gallelli1, Antonio Siniscalchi2, Caterina Palleria1
1Department of Health Science, School of Medicine, University of Catanzaro, Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacovigilance Unit, MaterDomini Hospital, Catanzaro. Italy.
Introduction:
Drug treatment may be related to the development of adverse drug reactions (ADRs).
Aim:
In this paper, we evaluated the ADRs in patients admitted to Catanzaro Hospital.
Methods:
After we obtained the approval by local Ethical Committee, we performed a retrospective study on clinical records from March 01, 2013 to April 30, 2015. The association between drug and ADR or between drug and drug-drug-interactions (DDIs) was evaluated using the Naranjo's probability scale and Drug Interaction Probability Scale (DIPS), respectively.
Results:
During the study period, we analyzed 2870 clinical records containing a total of 11,138 prescriptions, and we documented the development of 770 ADRs. The time of hospitalization was significantly higher (P<0.05) in women with ADRs (12.6 ± 1.2 days) with respect to men (11.8± 0.83 days). Using the Naranjo score, we documented a probable association in 78% of these reactions, while DIPS revealed that about 22% of ADRs were related to DDIs. Patients with ADRs received 3052 prescriptions on 11,138 (27.4%) having a mean of 6.1±0.29 drugs that was significantly higher (P<0.01) with respect to patients not experiencing ADRs (mean of 3.4±0.13 drugs). About 19% of ADRs were not diagnosed and were treated as new diseases.
Conclusion:
Our results indicate that drug administration induces the development of ADRs also during the hospitalization, particularly in elderly women. Moreover, we also documented that ADRs in some patients are under-diagnosed, therefore, it is important to motivate healthcare to report the ADRs in order to optimize the patients' safety.
