Epidemiology of adverse drug reactions in intensive care units. A multicentre prospective survey

✍ Scribed by M. L. Farina

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1987
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 586 KB
• Volume: 31
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0031-6970
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00606621

✦ Synopsis

Italian Group on Intensive Care Evaluation (IGICE) 1 Summary. Clinically relevant events possibly attributable to drug exposure have been monitored prospectively over a period of six months in 27 general intensive care units. Fifty-four events attributed to drugs were reported in 51 patients during their stay in hospital, corresponding to an overall incidence of 1.35%. The behaviour of the physicians following attribution of the events to a prescribed drug is analyzed and discussed in detail with respect to its relationship to the quality and severity of the reaction, and the classes of drugs. Twenty-four of the 4537 monitored admissions during the six months were due to life-threatening emergencies linked to the administration of drugs ( 14) and radio-contrast media (10) (overall incidence 0.5%). While the clinical burden attributable to adverse drug reactions in Intensive Care Units appears to be relatively small, the analysis shows that there is ample room for a greater reduction in their incidence.