Characteristics of 1178 patients with repeat and first-occurrence adverse drug events
| Characteristic | Patients with 1 or more repeat ADEs* n = 400 | Patients with first-occurrence ADEs n = 778 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No.† | % (95% CI)† | No.† | % (95% CI)† | |
| Age, mean ± SD (95% CI); yr | 64.4 ± 21.1 (58.2–70.7) | 66.0 ± 20.2 (61.6–70.3) | ||
| Age > 80 yr | 134 | 33.5 (21.9–45.1) | 257 | 33.0 (29.0–37.0) |
| Female | 215 | 53.8 (47.4–60.1) | 447 | 57.5 (53.6–61.3) |
| Comorbidities | ||||
| Diabetes | 99 | 24.8 (13.6–35.9) | 148 | 19.0 (13.6–24.5) |
| Congestive heart failure | 46 | 11.5 (11.2–11.8) | 88 | 11.3 (9.8–12.8) |
| Atrial fibrillation | 75 | 18.8 (16.3–21.2) | 168 | 21.6 (18.5–24.6) |
| Renal failure | 57 | 14.3 (6.5–22.0) | 61 | 7.8 (4.2–11.5) |
| Dementia | 27 | 6.8 (4.0–9.5) | 48 | 6.2 (3.0–9.3) |
| Hypertension | 175 | 43.8 (38.9–48.6) | 357 | 45.9 (41.8–50.0) |
| Mental health diagnosis | 93 | 23.3 (15.4–31.1) | 137 | 17.6 (12.9–22.3) |
| No. of medications, median (IQR)‡ | 9 (5–13) | 8 (5–12) | ||
| Most common medications | ||||
| Furosemide | 69 | 17.3 (13.8–20.7) | 132 | 17.0 (15.2–18.7) |
| Ramipril | 66 | 16.5 (13.3–19.7) | 143 | 18.4 (15.6–21.2) |
| Warfarin sodium | 66 | 16.5 (12.9–20.1) | 122 | 15.7 (13.2–18.2) |
| Codeine | 64 | 16.0 (9.6–22.4) | 120 | 15.4 (12.2–18.6) |
| Zopiclone | 60 | 15.0 (9.6–20.4) | 119 | 15.3 (13.9–16.7) |
| Canadian Triage Acuity Score§ | ||||
| 1 | 4 | 1.0 (0.0–2.1) | 10 | 1.3 (0.0–3.4) |
| 2 | 89 | 22.6 (18.1–27.2) | 197 | 26.4 (23.0–29.7) |
| 3 | 214 | 54.5 (47.6–61.3) | 412 | 55.2 (52.0–58.3) |
| 4 | 82 | 20.9 (13.5–28.2) | 122 | 16.3 (10.6–22.0) |
| 5 | 4 | 1.0 (0.0–2.4) | 6 | 0.8 (0.0–2.4) |
| Ambulance arrival | 162 | 41.4 (22.3–60.6) | 309 | 41.5 (26.4–56.6) |
| Disposition | ||||
| Discharged from ED | 240 | 61.1 (45.3–76.8) | 425 | 56.8 (40.4–73.2) |
| Admitted to hospital | 151 | 38.4 (20.3–56.5) | 320 | 42.8 (25.9–59.7) |
Note: ADE = adverse drug event, CI = confidence interval, ED = emergency department, SD = standard deviation.
↵* There were 421 repeat ADEs diagnosed among 400 patients.
↵† Unless specified otherwise.
↵‡ Denominator n = 722 for first-occurrence ADEs, n = 375 for repeat ADEs due to missing data on coprescriptions.
↵§ Denominator n = 747 for first occurrence ADEs, n = 393 for repeat ADEs due to missing data.