Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Oct 13:10:287.
doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-10-287.

Trends of adverse drug reactions related-hospitalizations in Spain (2001-2006)

Pilar Carrasco-Garrido  1 , López Ana de Andrés, Valentín Hernández Barrera, Gil Angel de Miguel, Rodrigo Jiménez-García
Affiliations

Trends of adverse drug reactions related-hospitalizations in Spain (2001-2006)

Pilar Carrasco-Garrido et al. BMC Health Serv Res. .

Abstract

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADR) are a substantial cause of hospital admissions. We conducted a nationwide study to estimate the burden of hospital admissions for ADRs in Spain during a six-year period (2001-2006) along with the associated total health cost.

Methods: Data were obtained from the national surveillance system for hospital data (Minimum Basic Data Set) maintained by the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs, and covering more than 95% of Spanish hospitals. From these admissions we selected all hospitalization that were code as drug-related (ICD-9-CM codes E), but intended forms of overdoses, errors in administration and therapeutics failure were excluded. The average number of hospitalizations per year, annual incidence of hospital admissions, average length of stay in the hospital, and case-fatality rate, were calculated.

Results: During the 2001-2006 periods, the total number of hospitalized patients with ADR diagnosis was 350,835 subjects, 1.69% of all acute hospital admissions in Spain. The estimated incidence of admissions due to ADR decreased during the period 2001-2006 (p < 0.05). More than five percent of patients (n = 19,734) died during an ADR-related hospitalization. The drugs most commonly associated with ADR-related hospitalization were antineoplastic and immunosuppressive drugs (n = 75,760), adrenal cortical steroids (n = 47,539), anticoagulants (n = 26,546) and antibiotics (n = 22,144). The costs generated by patients in our study increased by 19.05% between 2001 and 2006.

Conclusions: Approximately 1.69% of all acute hospital admissions were associated with ADRs. The rates were much higher for elderly patients. The total cost of ADR-related hospitalization to the Spanish health system is high and has increased between 2001 and 2006. ADRs are an important cause of admission, resulting in considerable use of national health system beds and a significant number of deaths.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Waller P. Pharmacoepidemiology-a tool for public health. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2001;10(2):165–72. doi: 10.1002/pds.579. - DOI - PubMed
    1. De Abajo F. Medications as a solution and a problem for public health. Brief overview of the pharmacoepidemiologic objectives. Rev Esp Salud Publica. 2001;75(4):281–3. - PubMed
    1. Kohn LT, Corrigan JM, Donaldson MS. To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. Institute of Medicine: Washington DC; 2000. - PubMed
    1. Van der Hooft CS, Sturkenboom MC, van Grootheest K, Kingma HJ, Stricker BH. Adverse drug reaction-related hospitalisations: a nationwide study in The Netherlands. Drug Saf. 2006;29(2):161–8. doi: 10.2165/00002018-200629020-00006. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kongkaew C, Noyce PR, Ashcroft DM. Hospital admissions associated with adverse drug reactions: a systematic review of prospective observational studies. Ann Pharmacother. 2008;42(7):1017–25. doi: 10.1345/aph.1L037. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types