Adverse drug reactions and drug non-compliance as primary causes of admission to a cardiology department

Abstract

426 consecutive patients admitted to a Danish University Department of Cardiology have been studied. Drug intake prior to admission by each patient was ascertained from medical records and personal interviews. Adverse drug reactions (ADR) were the primary cause of admission in 49 patients (11.5%), and 16 patients (3.8%) were admitted due to drug non-compliance (DNC). Thiazide diuretics, beta-adrenoceptor blocking agents and calcium antagonists accounted for almost 60% of all the ADR-related admissions. Patients admitted for ADR took significantly more drugs than patients admitted for other reasons. DNC was not correlated with the number of prescribed drugs. It is concluded that drug-related hospital admissions are an important medical and economic problem. Most of the ADRs were well-known and predictable actions of the drugs, and could have been avoided by more careful clinical and laboratory monitoring of the patients. Most of the DNC, too, could have been avoided by giving better information to the patients.

Knowledge of Hypertensive Patients With or Without HIV on Hypertension and Their Experience in Using Their Medicines in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: The Role of the Pharmacist

“…This rate is higher than the 15.3 % previously reported in a similar study conducted in Denmark [11] but similar to the one reported by Gholami 2008 in Tehran [12].This difference may be due to differences in the populations studied, types and number of drugs used by the patients, the definition used for ADR and susceptibility of patients to adverse reactions induced by antihypertensive medicines.…”

Cardiovascular drug adverse reactions in hospitalized patients in cardiac care unit

“…In a study conducted by Mohebbi and co-workers on 677 patients admitted to CCU over an 8-months period, the rate of ADRs was 24.2% (Mohebbi et al, 2010). In another study in Danish department of cardiology, the rate of ADRs attributed to cardiovascular agents was 15.3% (Davidsen et al, 1988). …”

“…The highest number of ADRs in Mohebbi et al (2010) study was caused by nitroglycerin. In Danish trial, almost 60% of all ADR-related admissions as well as 80% of all detected ADRs were attributed to thiazide diuretics, beta blockers, and calcium channel antagonists (Davidsen et al, 1988). Among 64 admissions to ICCU which were due to major cardiac iatrogenic events, 58 (91%) patients suffered from arrhythmias caused by beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, amiodarone or combination of these drugs (Hammerman and Kapeliovich, 2000).…”

Absorption of pivampicillin as related to dose, and tolerability of a 700 mg tablet

“…Previous studies have shown that many cases of treatment failure are due to lack of patient compliance [1][2][3][4]. For drugs with a sufficiently long serum half-life, endeavours have been made to formulate tablets with a high content of active substance in order to reduce the frequency of administration, preferably to two tablets daily.…”