Study: Are Antibiotic-Associated Adverse Events Common in Hospitalized Patients?

One in 5 hospitalized patients receiving antibiotic therapy is likely to develop antibiotic-associated adverse drug events (ADEs), according to a recent study.

In this retrospective cohort study, the researchers analyzed the medical records of 1488 adult inpatients who were exposed to at least 24 hours of any parenteral or oral antibiotic therapy. Participants were followed for 30 days after initiating the antibiotic for the development of gastrointestinal, dermatologic, musculoskeletal, hematologic, hepatobiliary, renal, cardiac, and neurologic antibiotic-associated ADEs.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

RELATED CONTENT
Study: Certain Antibiotics Often Overprescribed, Despite Guidelines
WHO Revises Antibiotics Section of its Essential Medicines List           
_______________________________________________________________________________________________         

Additionally, participants were assessed for 90 days for development of Clostridium difficile infection or incident multidrug-resistant organism infection, based on the expertise of 2 infectious disease specialists.

Demographic information indicated that participants were a median age of 59 years, and 51% of participants are female.

Results showed that, of the 1488 participants, 298 (20%) experienced at least 1 antibiotic-associated ADE. Additionally, 56 (20%) non-clinically indicated antibiotic regimens were related to an ADE, including 7 cases of C difficile infection. The researchers noted that each additional 10 days of antibiotic therapy increased patients’ risk of developing an ADE by 3%.

The most common ADEs were gastrointestinal, renal, and hematologic abnormalities. According to study results, 78 participants (42%) developed gastrointestinal abnormalities, 45 (24%) developed renal abnormalities, and 28 (15%) developed 30-day ADEs.

The researchers also identified notable differences between the incidence of ADEs associated with specific antibiotics.

“Although antibiotics may play a critical role when used appropriately, our findings underscore the importance of judicious antibiotic prescribing to reduce the harm that can result from antibiotic-associated ADEs,” the researchers concluded.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Tamma PD, Avdic E, Li DX, Dzintars K, Cosgrove SE. Association of adverse events with antibiotic use in hospitalized patients [Published online June 12, 2017]. JAMA Intern Med. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.1938.