In a study of 21,298 patients treated for adverse drug events in U.S. emergency departments between Jan. 1, 2004, and Dec. 31, 2005, researchers found that drugs for which regular outpatient monitoring is used to prevent toxicity accounted for 54.4% of estimated hospitalizations among patients age 65 or older, and for more than 41% of estimated hospitalizations overall. The study, reported in the Oct. 18 issue of JAMA, was conducted to determine the frequency and characteristics of outpatient ADEs that result in ED visits in the United States. The researchers analyzed data obtained through the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System–Cooperative Adverse Drug Event Surveillance project involving 63 nationally representative hospitals.
Unintentional overdoses accounted for the greatest number of cases (7,249) as well as the highest percentage of hospitalizations (27.8%). The three highest numbers of cases by condition were for dermatologic, gastrointestinal, and neurological conditions.
Based on their results, the authors estimate that more than 700,000 patients are treated for adverse drug events in EDs each year. Safety interventions designed to prevent adverse drug events “have long been available but use of these interventions varies,” write the authors. “The data from our study emphasize the national scope of the adverse health outcomes due to outpatient ADEs that could be addressed through targeted implementation of current safety interventions.”
