Hospital admissions for adverse reactions to drugs and deliberate self-poisoning

In a prospective study of 300 patients, 14 admissions (4,6%) were considered to be related to adverse drug reactions. A further 29 admissions (9,6%) were due to self-poisoning with drugs prescribed for therapeutic purposes. Agents causing adverse reactions were predominantly cardio-active drugs and anticoagulants. Mean duration of hospital stay in this group of patients was 8,3 days (range 2-18 days); there were no deaths. Tranquilizers and antidepressants were most commonly used for self-poisoning. Duration of admission in these patients was much shorter than in the previous group--mean 1,8 days (range 1-5 days), and there was 1 death. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported series of such cases in South Africa. It shows that drugs are an important cause of morbidity in hospital patients in the RSA.