Master in
FARMACOVIGILANZA
anno accademico 2010-2011
MAFV
Giornale Italiano di Farmacoeconomia e Farmacoutilizzazione 2013; 2 (5): 32-47 Corrispondenza: elisa_edr@hotmail.com
PAROLE CHIAVE Emergency department Adverse drug reactions Under-reporting Spontaneous reporting system
Abstract
Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a public health emergency often underestimated.
The incidence of ADRs has been estimated to be about 4-6% in the Emergency Department, and in the US fatal ADRs appear to be the fourth cause of death, amounting to 106,000 deaths an- nually, after cancer (529,904 deaths/year) and cerebral vascular disease (150,108 deaths/year).
Spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions is an important method for pharmacovigilance, but under-reporting and poor quality of reports are major limitations.
Aims: To examine drug-related Emergency Department (ED) accesses; to underline the main problems in the spontaneous reporting system of the ED of L. Sacco Hospital; to assess the phenomenon of under-reporting.
Methods: A retrospective study was conducted over a 6-month period at the ED of L. Sacco Hospital. The visits were analyzed and drug-related visits were stratified into the following four categories:
a) ADRs;
b) treatment failures;
c) excessive pharmacological activity;
d) incongruous assumption, e) non compliance.
The ED visits were evaluated from ED records contained in the Isolabella database, in order to assess drug-related problems. ADRs, analyzed and evaluated by ED physicians, were added in a database containing all reports of MEREAFaPS project that allows collection and analysis of ED-reported ADRs.
Results: In a total of 25,802 patients who visited the ED during the study period, 423 were evaluated. Patients without adequate documentation of the ED visit were excluded. Of all the patients evaluated, 59.00% were women. Elderly population was 45.15%, of whom 62.30%
were women. The ADRs reporting rate in the ED was 2.25 per thousand ED visits; women was 67.24% and elderly people only 17.24%, and there were no significant differences between genders in this age group.
Conclusions: In the L. Sacco Hospital ED, ADRs-related admission is 2.25 per thousand. There are not direct correspondence in ADRs reported between advancing age and increased likelihood incurring in ADRs. Elderly-related under-reporting is confirmed, as people aged 65 years and older are almost half of people who access the ED for reasons related to the drug, in addition to the reported ADRs. Hospitalization after an ED visit due to ADRs reported affects mainly women:
antimicrobial reactions play an important role in long hospital stay. Some types of reactions present in the ED such as type F reactions and some type A reactions, even if present in the analyzed records, have not been reported as ADRs.
Pronto soccorso e segnalazione spontanea
Elisa De Rosa 1 , Valentina Perrone 1 , Carla Carnovale 1 , Stefania Antoniazzi 1 , Giuseppe Vighi 2 , Emilio Clementi 1 , Sonia Radice 1
1
Servizio di Farmacovigilanza, U.O. di Farmacologia Clinica, Azienda Ospedaliera Luigi Sacco Polo Universitario, Milano
2