One-sixth of children in paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) were harmed by medications, of which most cases were preventable, according to a new study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.
Researchers conducted an observational study across three PICUs in England over a three-month period in 2019.
The study included 302 patients and 62 adverse drug events were confirmed. The estimated incidence of adverse drug events were 20.5 per 100 patients, and most were preventable as judged by the expert panel. ADEs were commonly involved with medicines prescribing (46.8%) and caused temporary patient harm (67.7%).
Medications for the central nervous system (22.6%), infections (20.9%), and the cardiovascular system (19.4%) were commonly implicated with adverse drug events. Analysis revealed that patients who stayed in PICU for seven or more days were more likely to experience an adverse event compared to patients with a shorter stay.
“This multicentre study is the first of its kind in the UK hospitals, and its findings can guide future remedial interventions to reduce avoidable medication-related harm in this vulnerable patient population,” said lead author Anwar A. Alghamdi, PhD, of the University of Manchester.
Source: Wiley
