Adverse drug reactions in paediatric surgery: prospective study on frequency and risk related factors

Paediatric patients are especially prone to experiencing adverse drug reactions (ADRs), and the surgical environment gathers many conditions for such reactions to occur. Additionally, little information exists in the literature on ADRs in the paediatric surgical population. We aimed to quantify the ADR frequency in this population, and to investigate the characteristics and risk factors associated with ADR development.

A prospective observational study was conducted in a cohort of 311 paediatric patients, aged 1-16 years, admitted for surgery at a tertiary referral hospital in Spain (2019-2021). Incidence rates were used to assess ADR frequency. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated to evaluate the influence of potential risk factors on ADR development.

Distinct ADRs (103) were detected in 80 patients (25.7%). The most frequent being hypotension (N = 32; 35%), nausea (N = 16; 15.5%), and emergence delirium (N = 16; 15.5%). Most ADRs occurred because of drug-drug interactions. The combination of sevoflurane and fentanyl was responsible for most of these events (N = 32; 31.1%). The variable most robustly associated to ADR development, was the number of off-label drugs prescribed per patient (OR = 2.99; 95% CI 1.73 to 5.16), followed by the number of drugs prescribed per patient (OR = 1.26, 95% CI 1.13 to 1.41), and older age (OR = 1.26, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.49). The severity of ADRs was assessed according to the criteria of Venulet and the Spanish Pharmacovigilance System. According to both methods, only four ADRs (3.9%) were considered serious.

ADRs have a high incidence rate in the paediatric surgical population. The off-label use of drugs is a key risk factor for ADRs development.