Preventable drug-related hospital admissions.

Winterstein AG, Sauer BC, Hepler CD, Poole C. Preventable drug-related hospital admissions. The Annals of pharmacotherapy. 2002 Jul 1; 36(7-8):1238-48.

Related HSR&D Project(s)

• CDA 06-300 – Building Evidence for Explicit Drug Therapy Monitoring Strategies

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.    Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions

Search for Abstract from PubMed

---

Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of preventable drug-related hospital admissions (PDRAs) and to explore if selected study characteristics affect prevalence estimates. METHODS: Keyword search of MEDLINE (1966-December 1999), International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (1970-December 1999), and hand search. Two reviewers independently selected studies published in peer-reviewed journals and extracted crude prevalence estimates and study characteristics. Trials had to specifically address consequences of drug therapy requiring hospital admission and include a quantitative preventability assessment. Stratified analysis and meta-regression were used to explore the association between study characteristics and prevalence estimates. DATA SYNTHESIS: Fifteen studies reported a median PDRA prevalence of 4.3% (interquartile range [IQR] 3.1-9.5%). The median preventability rate of drug-related admissions was 59% (IQR 50-73%). No evidence of publication bias related to study size could be determined. Because the individual study results were highly heterogeneous (Cochran's Q = 176, df = 14; p < 0.001), no meta-analytic summary estimate was computed. Stratified analysis suggested an association between prevalence estimates and 3 study characteristics: exclusion of first admissions (readmission studies: average PDRA prevalence of 14.0 %, estimated prevalence OR = 3.7); mean age of admissions > 70 (OR = 2.1); and inclusion of "indirect" drug-related morbidity, such as omission errors or therapeutic failure (OR = 1.9). There was little evidence of other associations with prevalence estimates, such as selection of specific hospital units, exclusion/inclusion of planned admissions, country, and specified methods of PDRA case ascertainment. CONCLUSIONS: Drug-related morbidity is a significant healthcare problem, and a great proportion is preventable. Study methods in prevalence reports vary and should be considered when interpreting findings or planning future research.