Adverse drug reactions as a cause of admission to a medical emergency department

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) have been regarded as a major public health problem as they represent a sizable percentage of admissions to Emergency Departments (EDs). The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of admissions to medical EDs and hospitalizations due to ADRs detected by emergency physicians. Methods: The study team of internal medicine specialists reviewed retrospectively 1,000 randomly selected medical records out of 23,000 patients referred to ED of the primary city and tertiary hospitals for ADRs detected by emergency physicians during patient presentation in 2009. Results: The established frequency of ED admissions due to ADRs was 3.7% of all patients (37/1000). Bradycardia due to verapamil, digoxin and beta-blockers was the most common ADR and represented 20% of all ADRs. 0.7% of all patients admitted to the ED (7/1000) were hospitalized due to ADRs caused by beta-blockers, digoxin, diuretics, NSAID, acetylsalicylic acid, clopidogrel and tamoxifen. Conclusion: ADRs cause 3.7% of all admissions at the medical ED. 0.7% of all patients admitted to the medical ED are hospitalized due to ADRs, which represents 2.2% of patients hospitalized through the medical ED at internal medicine departments (7/320).