Possible adverse drug events leading to hospital admission in a Brazilian teaching hospital

Drugs utilization profile in England and Wales in the past 15 years: a secular trend analysis

BACKGROUND

Medication use assessment has a critical role in promoting the effective and rational use of pharmaceutical medications. There are no studies that have explored the utilization of all medications in England and Wales in the past 15 years without restrictions in the age group being studied or class of medications.

AIM

To explore the medication utilization pattern of dispensed medications in England and Wales in the past 15 years.

METHOD

A secular trend analysis study using publically available dispensing data on the population level in England and Wales for the duration between 2004 and 2019. Medication dispensing data was extracted from the Prescription Cost Analysis database.

RESULTS

Medication prescriptions rate increased by 42.6% [from 1,345,095.75 (95% CI 1,345,004.25 - 1,345,187.26) in 2004 to 1,918,138.48 (95% CI 1,918,038.38 - 1,918,238.57) in 2019 per 100,000 persons, trend test, p < 0.001]. During the study period, the most common medication prescriptions were for the cardiovascular system, central nervous system, and endocrine system, which accounted for 30.2%, 18.8%, and 9.4%, respectively. The rate of medication prescriptions for skin, immunological products and vaccines, infections, and musculoskeletal and joint diseases decreased by 18.4%, 15.8%, 9.8%, and 5.7%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

The last two decades have witnessed a remarkable rise in the quantity of medications dispensed in community settings. Utilization of chronic disease medications has increased in the past 15 years, specifically, dispensed medications for the cardiovascular system, central nervous system, and endocrine system. It is necessary to conduct additional cohort studies to investigate the clinical outcomes and prescribing safety of these medications.

Hospital Admissions Associated With Medication-Related Problems in Thai Older Patients: A Multicenter Prospective Observational Study

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence rate and risk factors of medication-related problems (MRPs) leading to hospital admissions in Thai older patients.

METHODS

A prospective observational study was carried out in nine hospitals in Lower Northern Thailand. Participants admitted to internal medicine units were screened for suspected MRPs by clinical pharmacists using medical record review and patient interview. Three experts evaluated suspected MRPs independently using the following four criteria: contribution of MRPs to hospital admissions, causality, severity, and preventability.

RESULTS

Of 1776 patients admitted during the study period, 56 patients (3.2%) were deemed to have causal MRPs; 24 (42.9%) were judged as preventable. The medication groups most commonly associated with MRPs were those targeting the endocrine system, especially antidiabetic medications, such as metformin and glipizide. Preventable MRPs were usually manifest as hypoglycemia (n = 15, 62.5%). The variables that contributed to hospital admissions associated with MRPs were age (odds ratio = 1.92; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.06-3.47), starting a new drug within 1 week (odds ratio = 2.31; 95% CI = 1.08-4.95), or within 1 month (odds ratio = 2.17; 95% CI = 1.05-4.48).

CONCLUSIONS

Hospital admissions associated with MRPs in Thai older patients continue to burden the Thai healthcare system of which nearly half were preventable. Further studies should consider analysis of costs and include hepatic and renal function status of participants.

Drug interactions for elderly people with mental and behavioral disorders: a systematic scoping review

OBJECTIVES

To identify drug interactions of potentially inappropriate medications and mental and behavioral disorders, according to explicit potentially inappropriate medications criteria-based tools.

METHODOLOGY

A systematic scoping review was conducted in February 2020. Study characteristics, potentially inappropriate medications, drug interactions, rationale, and therapeutic management proposed were extracted. The commercialization and potentially inappropriate medications standard as essential in Brazil and in the world were identified. Therapeutic management was proposed for the most cited potentially inappropriate medications.

RESULTS

36 tools including 151 drug interactions, in addition to 132 potentially inappropriate medications with concerns related to six mental and behavioral disorders were identified. Cognitive impairment and dementia were the most frequently disorders reported and antipsychotics, anticholinergics, and benzodiazepines were the pharmacological classes more involved in the drug interactions. Despite the tools recommended risperidone and quetiapine when the use of antipsychotics were inevitable; levodopa + carbidopa for Parkinson's disease; and short and intermediate half-life benzodiazepines; the quality of the evidence needs to be assessed. In this review, sleep hygiene; deprescription; medication review; and clinical monitoring of adverse drug reactions are strongly recommended. In addition, to consider agomelatine, bupropion, moclobemide and melatonin as potential safer options for benzodiazepines.

CONCLUSION

Knowing the clinical conditions or risk morbidities associated with the use of potentially inappropriate medications and management of these medications for safer therapeutic equivalents or non-pharmacotherapeutic alternatives are relevant for patient safety.

Risk factors associated with drug therapy among elderly people with Alzheimer's disease: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Improving knowledge and establishing strategies and policies for better patient safety are worldwide priorities.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate drug safety among elderly people with Alzheimer's disease (AD).

DESIGN AND SETTING

Cross-sectional study among elderly people within the National AD Assistance Protocol (PCDTDA/MS) who were living in the municipality of Araraquara, Brazil, in 2017.

METHODS

Through interviews conducted with relatives/caregivers of elderly people with diagnoses of AD, the following variables were evaluated: comorbidities, drug therapy used, use of potentially inappropriate medications for the elderly (PIMs), presence of potentially inappropriate interactions (PIIs) and medication regimen complexity index. Factors associated with AD severity were also evaluated. Multivariate and simple logistic regressions were applied.

RESULTS

143 elderly people enrolled in PCDTDA/MS were analyzed. The majority were women (67.1%); assisted only through the public healthcare system (75.5%); polymedicated (57.4%); using at least one PIM (63.6%); presenting at least one PII (63.6%); and under drug therapy of low to medium complexity (92.2%). No semi-annual monitoring of the effectiveness of PCDTDA/MS drugs was identified. The proportion using AD drug therapy at daily doses differing from those recommended by the World Health Organization was 75.6%. However, these doses were not associated with drug risk.

CONCLUSION

The data from this study raise the hypothesis that use of polypharmacy might show a correlation with severity of AD. The drug safety risk may be associated with comorbidities of the metabolic syndrome, anxiety and off-label use of PIMs, such as risperidone and quetiapine, and benzodiazepines (i.e. clonazepam and flunitrazepam).

Potential Adverse Drug Events and Nephrotoxicity Related to Prophylaxis With Omeprazole for Digestive Disorders: A Prospective Cohort Study

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to assess whether prophylaxis for digestive disorders with omeprazole is a risk factor for adverse drug events (ADEs) and kidney impairment.

METHODS

This was a 9-month, prospective, double-blinded cohort study performed in a Brazilian public hospital. All inpatients 18 years or older admitted during the period of data collection were divided into 2 cohorts. The first group comprised 200 patients receiving prophylaxis for digestive disorders with omeprazole. A total of 54 inpatients who received treatment with omeprazole and whose indication was not approved by the Brazilian Sanitary Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration were excluded. The second group comprised 219 inpatients without a prescription for omeprazole. Follow-up was performed until discharge and included assessment of medical records, medical prescriptions, laboratory data, and pharmaceutical anamnesis. The primary end point was kidney impairment. The variables monitored were kidney function (serum creatinine and urea levels as well as glomerular filtration rate), hepatic function (alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase levels), pharmacotherapy, magnesium levels, and imputation of ADEs. With the aid of algorithms of World Health Organization and the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention, we assessed the causality of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and the seriousness of medication errors (ADEs), respectively.

FINDINGS

Prophylaxis for digestive disorders with omeprazole (P = 0.019) and sex (P = 0.010) were considered risk factors for increased serum creatinine level via multivariate logistic regression even with concomitant use of nephrotoxic drugs (P = 0.252). Six ADEs related to omeprazole were identified: 2 ADRs (1 possible and 1 definite), 2 medication errors (nonserious), 1 therapeutic failure, and 1 drug-drug interaction.

IMPLICATIONS

Prophylaxis for digestive disorders with omeprazole and male sex may contribute to the development of kidney impairment because both result in increased serum creatinine levels. Therefore, pharmacotherapeutic follow-up of male patients diagnosed with kidney disorders should be considered to identify potential drug-drug interactions early. This follow-up can prevent worsening clinical conditions and/or contraindicate prophylactic use of omeprazole. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02278432.

Iatrogeniа in internist practice

The article presents the history of the issue, the concept of iatrogenia, possible negative consequences of the interaction of the doctor and the patient in modern conditions. The main forms of iatrogenic (psychogenic, hospital, iatrogenic diagnostic procedures, medicinal, etc.) are given. An important place is occupied by implantation of iatrogenic (patients with artificial heart valves, cardio-implanted electronic devices, coronary stents, articular endoprostheses). The most vulnerable to the development of iatrogenic are elderly and senile patients. The interdisciplinarity of the iatrogenic problem and its educational significance for therapists, general practitioners, clinical pharmacologists, pathologists. Keywords: iatrogeniа, iatrogenic events, undesirable drug reactions, мedical error.

A comparative analysis of the pharmacovigilance systems of Brazil, Spain, the European Union and the United States based on the information provided by their regulatory agency websites

BACKGROUND

Pharmacovigilance (PV) plays an essential role in monitoring and raising awareness of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Increasingly, ADRs are reported and PV information and activities are circulated via the Internet. PV actions are carried out by the Regulatory Agencies (RAs) responsible for medicinal products in each country.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study is to ascertain and assess the operation and areas of competence of the PV system in Brazil and to compare them with those of Spain, the European Union (EU) and the United States (USA), through the information available on the websites of the RAs in each country.

METHODS

A search of the information provided on the websites of these countries' RAs, establishing indicators to assess how far the information is available and accessible.

RESULTS

The RAs we studied are similarly organised and they complied with most of the 38 indicators we defined to obtain and assess the information they provide on PV procedures and their systems for electronic reporting of ADRs. Brazil's RA, ANVISA, complied with 100% of the areas of competence analysed and with 92.11% of the indicators established for the study.

CONCLUSIONS

Brazil's PV system, through ANVISA, achieves a good level of performance, both in itself and compared to the other RAs. There is room for improvement in three of the indicators analysed.

Adverse drug events identified in hospitalized patients in Brazil by International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) code listings

Studies of adverse drug events (ADEs) are important in order not to jeopardize the positive impact of pharmacotherapy. These events have substantial impact on the population morbidity profiles, and increasing health system operating costs. Administrative databases are an important source of information for public health purposes and for identifying ADEs. In order to contribute to learning about ADE in hospitalized patients, this study examined the potential of applying ICD-10 (10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases) codes to a national database of the public health care system (SIH-SUS). The study comprised retrospective assessment of ADEs in the SIH-SUS administrative database, from 2008 to 2012. For this, a list of ICD-10 codes relating to ADEs was built. This list was built up by examining lists drawn up by other authors identified by bibliographic search in the MEDLINE and LILACS and consultations with experts. In Brazil, 55,604,537 hospital admissions were recorded in the SIH-SUS, between 2008 and 2012, of which 273,440 (0.49%) were related to at least one ADE. The proportions and rates seem to hold constant over the study period. Fourteen out of 20 most frequent ADEs were identified in codes relating to mental disorders. Intoxications figure as the second most frequently recorded group of ADEs in the SIH-SUS, comprising 76,866 hospitalizations. Monitoring of ADEs in administrative databases using ICD-10 codes is feasible, even in countries with information systems under construction, and can be an innovative tool to complement drug surveillance strategies in place in Brazil, as well as in others countries.

Drug-Related Morbidity in Brazil: A Cost-of-Illness Model

OBJECTIVES

To estimate the proportion of patients with drug-related morbidities (DRMs), DRM preventability, and the cost of illness of the DRMs in Brazil.

METHODS

We used the decision-analytic model initially developed by Johnson and Bootman (Drug-related morbidity and mortality. A cost-of-illness model. J Manag Care Pharm 1996;2:39-47), which was adapted to the reality of the present study. A hypothetical cohort of patients in ambulatory care setting was simulated considering the perspective of the Brazilian public health system. Direct costs related to health care were obtained from the national databases, and the probability of occurrence of DRMs was established by a panel of clinical experts. Sensitivity analyses were conducted.

RESULTS

An estimated 59% ± 14% of all patients assisted by the health system suffer some DRMs. Given these cases, 53% ± 18% were considered preventable. The average cost of managing a patient with any DRM was US $155. The cost of illness of the DRMs in Brazil would account for nearly US $18 billion (US $9-$27 billion) (best and worst case scenarium) annually. This amount is 5 times higher than what the Ministry of Health spends to guarantee free medicines in Brazil. Hospitalizations and long-term stays in hospital correspond to 75% of this cost. The sensitivity analysis showed that the model is sensitive to variations in these two outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

According to the model, a large proportion of patients experience DRM and the economic impact to solve these problems is substantial for the health system. Considering that more than half of these cases are preventable, it could be possible to achieve an enormous saving of resources through actions that improve the process of medication use.

Adverse-Drug-Reaction-Related Hospitalisations in Developed and Developing Countries: A Review of Prevalence and Contributing Factors

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are one of the leading causes of hospital admissions and morbidity in developed countries and represent a substantial burden on healthcare delivery systems. However, there is little data available from low- and middle-income countries. This review compares the prevalence and characteristics of ADR-related hospitalisations in adults in developed and developing countries, including the mortality, severity and preventability associated with these events, commonly implicated drugs and contributing factors. A literature search was conducted via PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, ProQuest and Google Scholar to find articles published in English from 2000 to 2015. Relevant observational studies were included. The median (with interquartile range [IQR]) prevalence of ADR-related hospitalisation in developed and developing countries was 6.3 % (3.3-11.0) and 5.5 % (1.1-16.9), respectively. The median proportions of preventable ADRs in developed and developing countries were 71.7 % (62.3-80.0) and 59.6 % (51.5-79.6), respectively. Similarly, the median proportions of ADRs resulting in mortality in developed and developing countries were 1.7 % (0.7-4.8) and 1.8 % (0.8-8.0), respectively. Commonly implicated drugs in both settings were antithrombotic, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and cardiovascular drugs. Older age, female gender, number of medications, renal impairment and heart failure were reported to be associated with an increased risk for ADR-related hospitalisation in both settings while HIV/AIDS was implicated in developing countries only. The majority of ADRs were preventable in both settings, highlighting the importance of improving medication use, particularly in vulnerable patient groups such as the elderly, patients with multiple comorbidities and, in developing countries, patients with HIV/AIDS.

Categorization and association analysis of risk factors for adverse drug events

PURPOSE

Adverse drug events (ADE) are among the leading causes of morbidity and hospitalization. This review analyzes risk factors for ADE, particularly their categorizations and association patterns, the prevalence, severity, and preventability of ADE, and method characteristics of reviewed studies.

METHODS

Literature search was conducted via PubMed, Science Direct, CINAHL, and MEDLINE. A review was conducted of research articles that reported original data about specific risk factors for ADE since 2000. Data analyses were performed using Excel and R.

RESULTS

We summarized 211 risk factors for ADE, and grouped them into five main categories: patient-, disease-, medication-, health service-, and genetics-related. Among them, medication- and disease-related risk factors were most frequently studied. We further classified risk factors within each main category into subtypes. Among them, polypharmacy, age, gender, central nervous system agents, comorbidity, service utilization, inappropriate use/change use of drugs, cardiovascular agents, and anti-infectives were most studied subtypes. An association analysis of risk factors uncovered many interesting patterns. The median prevalence, preventability, and severity rate of reported ADE was 19.5% (0.29%~86.2%), 36.2% (2.63%~91%), and 16% (0.01%~47.4%), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

This review introduced new categories and subtypes of risk factors for ADE. The broad and in-depth coverage of risk factors and their association patterns elucidate the complexity of risk factor analysis. Managing risk factors for ADE is crucial for improving patient safety, particularly for the elderly, comorbid, and polypharmacy patients. Some under-explored risk factors such as genetics, mental health and wellness, education, lifestyle, and physical environment invite future research.