Title:Adverse Drug Reactions Related to Drug Administration in Hospitalized Patients
Volume: 12
Issue: 3
Author(s): Luca Gallelli, Antonio Siniscalchi*, Caterina Palleria, Laura Mumoli, Orietta Staltari, Aida Squillace, Francesca Maida, Emilio Russo , Santo Gratteri, Giovambattista De Sarro and “G&SP” Working Group
Affiliation:
- Department of Neurology, Annunziata Hospital, Via F. Migliori, 1 - 87100 Cosenza,Italy
Keywords:
Retrospective study, clinical records, pharmacovigilance, adverse drug reactions, drug-drug Interactions, patients.
Abstract: 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.
