PRESCRIPTIONS PUT 80,000 IN HOSPITAL: STUDY

More than 80,000 people are taken to hospital each year because of adverse
drug reactions, many of them avoidable, according to a study released today
in the Journal of Quality in Clinical Practice.

Cardiovascular drugs, antibiotics, blood-thinning drugs and
anti-inflammatory drugs were the main pharmaceuticals linked with adverse
reactions in a study by Ms Libby Roughead, a pharmacist at the school of
pharmacy and medical science, at the University of South Australia.

The drugs were implicated in serious illnesses such as gastrointestinal
bleeding, heart failure, immunosuppresion, potentially fatal heartbeat
abnormalities and seizures.

It has been estimated that between 32 per cent and 69 per cent of all
medication-related hospital cases are avoidable.

Ms Roughead reviewed 14 medical studies in her report and found that
between 2.4 per cent and 3.6 per cent of all Australian public hospital
admissions were likely to be drug-related.

``Medication-related hospital admissions are a significant public health
problem in Australia,'' Ms Roughead said.

Adverse drug reactions were an enormous economic cost to the health system,
costing hundreds of millions of dollars a year, she said.

Another study in the journal estimated that such events in health-care
management cost hospitals $900 million a year. Including adverse events at
nursing homes and in general and specialist practice, the total cost of
adverse events would be closer to $1.2 billion, estimated the researchers,
from the Australian Patient Safety Foundation.

``This is an amount equal to that estimated for all other forms of injury
combined,'' they said.

The researchers also reported that hospital admissions from an adverse drug
or health treatment cost more, on average, than other admissions.

They estimated how much specific adverse events cost the health system each
year: surgical wound infections cost nearly $140 million; hospital
admissions for gastrointestinal bleeds caused by anti-inflammatory drugs
cost $30 million; unnecessary operations cost $29 million; falls in
hospitals cost $2.1 million.

A 1992 study of more than 14,000 medical records found 2353 adverse events.

Meanwhile, a study by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
found that 50 per cent of adverse events in general practice were
drug-related.

In hospitals, it is believed that 20per cent of adverse events are drug
related.

Dr Chris Hogan, the Victorian chairman of the Royal Australian College of
General Practitioners, said a wide range of factors contributed to adverse
drug reactions and health events.

``There are several ways that these things can be avoided,'' he said. ``The
first thing is that if each doctor who treats a patient is fully aware of
all the medications a patient is taking - including over-the-counter and
natural medicines.

Too many patient did not actually know what medication they were on, he said.

Other adverse reactions occurred because people took someone else's pills
or expired medication, he said.