Frequency and severity of adverse drug reactions due to self-medication: a cross-sectional multicentre survey in emergency departments.
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ABSTRACT: Background
Little is known about the relation of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) to self-use of medications.Objective
The aim of this study was to determine the frequency and severity of ADRs related to self-medication (ADR-SM) among emergency department (ED) patients and to describe their main characteristics.Methods
A prospective, cross-sectional, observational study was conducted over a period of 8 weeks (1 March to 20 April 2010), in the ED of 11 French academic hospitals. Adult patients presenting to the ED during randomization periods were included, with the exception of cases of self-drug poisoning, inability to complete self-medication questionnaire, or refusal. Clinical outcomes were assessed as well as history of self-medication behaviours and all drugs taken. All doubtful files and those related to ADR-SM were systematically reviewed by an expert committee.Results
A total of 3,027 of 4,661 patients presenting to the ED met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 84.4 % declared a self-medication behaviour, 63.7 % took at least one non-prescribed drug during the previous 2 weeks and 59.9 % took a prescribed medication. A total of 296 patients experienced an ADR (9.78 %), of which 52 (1.72 %) were related to self-medication. Those ADRs related to self-medication included prescribed drugs (n = 19), non-prescribed drugs (n = 17), treatment discontinuation (n = 14), and interactions between non-prescribed and prescribed drugs (n = 2). The ADRs attributed to non-prescribed drugs represented 1 % of all patients taking non-prescribed drugs (n = 1,927). ADR severity was significantly lower for those related to self-medication (p = .032).Conclusion
Self-medication is frequent; its potential toxicity should not be neglected, taking into account the rate of adverse drug reactions in about 1 % of ED patient.
SUBMITTER: Asseray N
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3834162 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:BackgroundThe rapid rise in the availability and use of pharmaceutical agents, and particularly polypharmacy, directly increases the risk for patients to experience adverse drug reactions (ADRs). There are few studies on the overall incidence and costs of ADRs.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to estimate the incidence and costs of emergency department (ED) visits related to ADRs for patients greater than 65 years of age using administrative data, and to describe risk factors for experiencing severe ADRs.MethodsWe employed a retrospective cohort design based on population-based healthcare administrative clinical databases. Identification of ADR-related ED visits from the administrative database was based on International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision-Canadian Enhancement (ICD-10-CA) codes for each ED visit. The incidence and costs of ADR-related ED visits and subsequent hospital admissions were estimated for all adults aged 66 years and above for the period April 2003-March 2008. Costs were standardized and reported in 2008 Canadian dollars. Logistic regression was used to detect risk factors for severe ADRs.ResultsApproximately 0.75% of total annual ED visits among adults aged 66 years and above were found to be ADR-related, and among these patients 21.6% were hospitalized. In 2007, the cost of ADR-related visits was $333 per ED visit and $7528 per hospitalization for a total annual cost of $13.6 million in Ontario, or an estimated $35.7 million in Canada. Severe ADRs were associated with sex, age, comorbid disease burden, multiple drugs, multiple pharmacies, newly prescribed drugs, recent ED visit, recent hospitalization and long-term care (LTC) residence.ConclusionsADRs are an important public health issue that threaten the safety of drug therapy and results in significant economic burden to the healthcare system. ED visits related to ADRs may be underestimated in retrospective studies using administrative data compared with prospective studies. Further research is needed to better understand the risk of experiencing severe ADRs among LTC residents.
| S-EPMC3714138 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundMedication lists prepared in the emergency department (ED) form the basis for diagnosing and treating patients during hospitalization. Since incomplete medication information may lead to patient harm, it is crucial to obtain a correct and complete medication list at hospital admission. In this cross-sectional retrospective study we wanted to explore medication information completeness in admission notes from Norwegian EDs and investigate which factors were associated with level of completeness.MethodsMedication information was assessed for completeness by applying five evaluation criteria; generic name, formulation, dose, frequency, and indication for use. A medication completeness score in percent was calculated per medication, per admission note and per criterion. Quantile regression analysis was applied to investigate which variables were associated with medication information completeness.ResultsAdmission notes for patients admitted between October 2018 and September 2019 and using at least one medication were included. A total of 1,080 admission notes, containing 8,604 medication orders, were assessed. The individual medications had a mean medication completeness score of 88.1% (SD 16.4), while admission notes had a mean medication completeness score of 86.3% (SD 16.2). Over 90% of all individual medications had information about generic name, formulation, dose and frequency stated, while indication for use was only present in 60%. The use of an electronic tool to prepare medication information had a significantly strong positive association with completeness. Hospital visit within the last 30 days, the patient's living situation, number of medications in use, and which hospital the patient was admitted to, were also associated with information completeness.ConclusionsMedication information completeness in admission notes was high, but potential for improvement regarding documentation of indication for use was identified. Applying an electronic tool when preparing admission notes in EDs seems crucial to safeguard completeness of medication information.
| S-EPMC10724918 | biostudies-literature
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Project description:BackgroundTo report on prevalence of gout flare in emergency departments and to report the quality of gout care in emergency departments and causes of admission at emergency departments.MethodsA retrospective chart review of visits that had a primary diagnosis in gout by the International Classification of Diseases, the tenth revision, at emergency departments from 6 universities in Thailand over a 5 year period from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2016.ResultsSix hundred thirty-two visits were included to the study. Prevalence of gout flare in emergency departments was 0.04. Only 29.3% of the visits had arthrocentesis. 628/632 (99.4%) and 519/585 (88.7%) of the visits were prescribed medications in emergency departments and had home medications, respectively. Although all visits that were prescribed colchicine in emergency departments received adequate doses of colchicine, it was also found that more than 2.4 mg/day of colchicine was prescribed (3/394, 0.8%) for home medications. In addition, 183/343 (53.4%) of the visits with normal renal function were prescribed non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). However, prescribed NSAIDs in abnormal renal function (42/343, 12.2%) was also found. The interruption of dosing, including increase, decrease, addition or discontinuance of urate lowing therapy in a gout flare period was 42/632 (6.6%). The most common cause of admission was acute gouty arthritis (31/47, 66.0%).ConclusionsQuality of gout care in the emergency departments was not good. Inappropriate management of gout flare in emergency departments was demonstrated in our study, particularly with regard to investigations and pharmacological management. Gaps between clinicians and guidelines, the knowledge of clinicians, and overcrowding in emergency departments were hypothesized in the results.
| S-EPMC7171834 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Although successful airway management is essential for emergency trauma care, comprehensive studies are limited. We sought to characterise current trauma care practice of airway management in the emergency departments (EDs) in Japan.Analysis of data from a prospective, observational, multicentre registry-the Japanese Emergency Airway Network (JEAN) registry.13 academic and community EDs from different geographic regions across Japan.723 trauma patients who underwent emergency intubation from March 2010 through August 2012.ED characteristics, patient and operator demographics, methods of airway management, intubation success or failure at each attempt and adverse events.A total of 723 trauma patients who underwent emergency intubation were eligible for the analysis. Traumatic cardiac arrest comprised 32.6% (95% CI 29.3% to 36.1%) of patients. Rapid sequence intubation (RSI) was the initial method chosen in 23.9% (95% CI 21.0% to 27.2%) of all trauma patients and in 35.5% (95% CI 31.4% to 39.9%) of patients without cardiac arrest. Overall, intubation was successful in ?3 attempts in 96% of patients (95% CI 94.3% to 97.2%). There was a wide variation in the initial methods of intubation; RSI as the initial method was performed in 0-50.9% of all trauma patients among 12 EDs. Similarly, there was a wide variation in success rates and adverse event rates across the EDs. Success rates varied between 35.5% and 90.5% at the first attempt, and 85.1% and 100% within three attempts across the 12 EDs.In this multicentre prospective study in Japan, we observed a high overall success rate in airway management during trauma care. However, the methods of intubation and success rates were highly variable among hospitals.
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Project description:Introduction South Africa has the world's largest antiretroviral treatment programme, which may contribute to the adverse drug reaction (ADR) burden. We aimed to determine the proportion of adult non-trauma emergency unit (EU) presentations attributable to ADRs and to characterise ADR-related EU presentations, stratified according to HIV status, to determine the contribution of drugs used in management of HIV and its complications to ADR-related EU presentations, and identify factors associated with ADR-related EU presentation. Methods We conducted a retrospective folder review on a random 1.7% sample of presentations over a 12-month period in 2014/2015 to the EUs of two hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa. We identified potential ADRs with the help of a trigger tool. A multidisciplinary panel assessed potential ADRs for causality, severity, and preventability. Results We included 1010 EU presentations and assessed 80/1010 (7.9%) as ADR-related, including 20/239 (8.4%) presentations among HIV-positive attendees. Among HIV-positive EU attendees with ADRs 17/20 (85%) were admitted, versus 22/60 (37%) of HIV-negative/unknown EU attendees. Only 5/21 (24%) ADRs in HIV-positive EU attendees were preventable, versus 24/63 (38%) in HIV-negative/unknown EU attendees. On multivariate analysis, only increasing drug count was associated with ADR-related EU presentation (adjusted odds ratio 1.10 per additional drug, 95% confidence interval 1.03 to 1.18), adjusted for age, sex, HIV status, comorbidity, and hospital. Conclusions ADRs caused a significant proportion of EU presentations, similar to findings from other resource-limited settings. The spectrum of ADR manifestations in our EUs reflects South Africa's colliding epidemics of infectious and non-communicable diseases. ADRs among HIV-positive EU attendees were more severe and less likely to be preventable. Highlights • Medicine safety is an understudied field in Africa.• Africa has high HIV prevalence and rapid scale-up of HIV treatment programmes.• Antiretrovirals may contribute to the burden of drug-related harm.• We describe the burden of adverse drug reactions to two African emergency units.• We also describe the contribution of HIV and ART to this ADR burden.
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Project description:Children constitute 6-10% of all patients attending the emergency department (ED) by emergency medical services (EMS). However, discordant EMS use in children occurs in 37-61% with fever as an important risk factor. We aimed to describe EMS utilisation among febrile children attending European EDs. This study is part of an observational multicentre study assessing management and outcome in febrile children up to 18 years (MOFICHE) attending twelve EDs in eight European countries. Discordant EMS use was defined as the absence of markers of urgency including intermediate/high triage urgency, advanced diagnostics, treatment, and admission in children transferred by EMS. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed for the association between (1) EMS use and markers of urgency, and (2) patient characteristics and discordant EMS use after adjusting all analyses for the covariates age, gender, visiting hours, presenting symptoms, and ED setting. A total of 5464 (15%, range 0.1-42%) children attended the ED by EMS. Markers of urgency were more frequently present in the EMS group compared with the non-EMS group. Discordant EMS use occurred in 1601 children (29%, range 1-59%). Age and gender were not associated with discordant EMS use, whereas neurological symptoms were associated with less discordant EMS use (aOR 0.2, 95%CI 0.1-0.2), and attendance out of office hours was associated with more discordant EMS use (aOR 1.6, 95%CI 1.4-1.9). Settings with higher percentage of self-referrals to the ED had more discordant EMS use (p < 0.05). Conclusion: There is large practice variation in EMS use in febrile children attending European EDs. Markers of urgency were more frequently present in children in the EMS group. However, discordant EMS use occurred in 29%. Further research is needed on non-medical factors influencing discordant EMS use in febrile children across Europe, so that pre-emptive strategies can be implemented. What is Known: •Children constitute around 6-10% of all patients attending the emergency department by emergency medical services. •Discordant EMS use occurs in 37-61% of all children, with fever as most common presenting symptom for discordant EMS use in children. What is New: •There is large practice variation in EMS use among febrile children across Europe with discordance EMS use occurring in 29% (range 1-59%), which was associated with attendance during out of office hours and with settings with higher percentage of self-referrals to the ED. •Future research is needed focusing on non-medical factors (socioeconomic status, parental preferences and past experience, healthcare systems, referral pathways, out of hours services provision) that influence discordant EMS use in febrile children across Europe.
| S-EPMC10570223 | biostudies-literature
Project description:AimInfection control in the emergency department is important for hospital risk management; however, few clinical guidelines have been established. This study aimed to determine whether hospitals in Japan have infection control manuals, and investigate the contents of manuals, consulting systems, and isolation facilities for emergency departments.MethodsA total of 517 hospitals certified as educational institutions for board-certified acute care physicians in Japan were requested between March and May 2015 to provide a written evaluation of the infection control in the emergency department.ResultsA total of 51 of 303 (16.8%) hospitals had no manuals regarding infection control in the emergency department. Among 250 hospitals having emergency department manuals, 115 (46.0%) did not include contents regarding disinfection and sterilization for imaging examination rooms, and only 44 (17.6%) had criteria for contacting the emergency medical service when patients are suspected of, or diagnosed with, communicable diseases. Of the 303 hospitals, 277 (91.4%) prepared specific manuals for the 2009 pandemic influenza. Of the 303 hospitals, 80 (26.4%) did not prepare manuals for the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa in 2014. Furthermore, 92 (30.4%) of the 303 hospitals did not have any negative-pressure isolation rooms.ConclusionsPractices and guidelines necessary for infection control in the emergency department were not sufficiently covered in the hospitals studied. Education, information sharing, and a checklist for preparing manuals are needed to establish better infection control systems in emergency departments.
| S-EPMC6167398 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundChildren account for nearly 20% of all US emergency department (ED) visits, yet previous national surveys found that many EDs lack specialized pediatric care. In response, a 2001 joint policy statement recommended resources needed by EDs for effective pediatric emergency care delivery. We sought to update and enhance previous estimates of pediatric services available in US EDs.MethodsWe administered a telephone survey to a 5% random sample (n = 279) of all US EDs from the 2007 National Emergency Department Inventory-USA. The survey collected data on local capabilities (including typical management of three clinical scenarios) and prevalence of a coordinator for pediatric emergency care. We used descriptive statistics to summarize data. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the association between survey respondent and ED characteristics as well as the presence of a coordinator for pediatric emergency medicine.ResultsData were collected from 238 hospitals (85% response rate). A minority of hospitals had pediatric departments (36%) or intensive care units (12%). The median annual number of ED visits by children was 3,870 (interquartile range 1,500-8,800). Ten percent of hospitals had a separate pediatric ED; only 17% had a designated pediatric emergency care coordinator. Significant positive predictors of a coordinator were an ED pediatric visit volume of ?1 patient per hour and urban location. Most EDs treated only mild-to-moderate cases of childhood bronchiolitis and asthma exacerbation (77% and 65%, respectively). Less than half (48%) of the hospitals reported the ability to surgically manage a child with acute appendicitis.ConclusionWe found little change in pediatric emergency services compared to earlier estimates. Our study results suggest a continued need for improvements to ensure access to emergency care for children.
| S-EPMC3639791 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundManagement of spontaneous pneumothorax (SP) is still subject to debate. Although encouraging results of recent studies about outpatient management with chest drains fitted with a one-way valve, no data exist concerning application of this strategy in real life conditions. We assessed how SP are managed in Emergency departments (EDs), in particular the role of outpatient management, the types of interventions and the specialty of the physicians who perform these interventions.MethodsFrom June 2009 to May 2013, all cases of spontaneous primary (PSP) and spontaneous secondary pneumothorax (SSP) from EDs of 14 hospitals in France were retrospectively included. First line treatment (observation, aspiration, thoracic drainage or surgery), type of management (admitted, discharged to home directly from the ED, outpatient management) and the specialty of the physicians were collected from the medical files of the ED.ResultsAmong 1868 SP included, an outpatient management strategy was chosen in 179 PSP (10%) and 38 SSP (2%), mostly when no intervention was performed. Only 25 PSP (1%) were treated by aspiration and discharged to home after ED admission. Observation was the chosen strategy for 985 patients (53%). In 883 patients with an intervention (47%), it was performed by emergency physicians in 71% of cases and thoracic drainage was the most frequent choice (670 patients, 76%).ConclusionsOur study showed the low level of implementation of outpatient management for PS in France. Despite encouraging results of studies concerning outpatient management, chest tube drainage and hospitalization remain preponderant in the treatment of SP.
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