• J Nurs Manag · Apr 2011

    Multiple drug exposure as a risk factor for the seriousness of adverse drug reactions.

    • Ana Filipa Macedo, Carlos Alves, Nuno Craveiro, and Francisco Batel Marques.
    • Central Portugal Regional Pharmacovigilance Centre, AIBILI, Coimbra, Portugal. filipa@fcsaude.ubi.pt
    • J Nurs Manag. 2011 Apr 1;19(3):395-9.

    AimThe aim of the present study was to validate the hypothesis that multiple drug exposure is an independent risk factor for serious adverse drug reactions (ADRs).BackgroundAdverse drug reactions (ADRs) are an important cause of iatrogenic disease, the majority being preventable. Multiple drug exposure, ageing and female gender have been identified as important risk factors for an increased incidence of ADRs.MethodADR reports received by the central Portugal Regional Pharmacovigilance Unit, between January 2001 and December 2009, were studied.ResultsNearly half (47.4%) of ADRs reports were considered serious, from which 66.7% reported multiple drug exposure (mean 3.07 ± 2.2; maximum 13). After adjusting for gender, simultaneous exposure to three or more drugs was significantly associated with an increased risk of serious ADRs [odds ratio (OR) 1.23; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-1.51].ConclusionsThe present results support that multiple drug exposure is an independent risk factor for serious ADRs. Such findings are of importance in both medicines benefit/risk ratio evaluations and patient safety monitoring.Implications For Nursing ManagementA new level of nursing involvement is needed in both the detection of ADRs and prevention of serious outcomes, particularly in high-risk patients.© 2011 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…