European healthcare professionals perceive drug-related morbidity to affect 50% of all patients, according to 2 new studies conducted at the Nordic School of Public Health NHV.
In the studies, drug-related morbidity included adverse drug reactions, drug dependence, intoxication by overdose, inadequate effect of medicines, and untreated indications. Two panels of experienced physicians and pharmacists estimated the following:
- Proportion of patients experiencing drug-related morbidity
- Proportion perceived preventable
- Clinical consequences resulting from drug-related morbidity
Using expert opinions, physicians estimated that 51% of all patients outside hospitals and 54% of all hospitalized patients experience drug-related morbidity. Pharmacists estimated this to affect 61% of all patients. Of the affected patients, 24% to 45% were estimated to experience preventable drug-related morbidity.
“It is likely that the frequency of drug-related morbidity and the resulting costs are underestimated in previous studies, as drug-related morbidity was also common outside hospitals according to the expert opinion,” says Hanna Gyllensten, pharmacist and doctoral student at the Nordic School of Public Health NHV.
The International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and theEuropean Journal of Clinical Pharmacology published the articles, “Modelling drug-related morbidity in Sweden using an expert panel of pharmacists“ and ”Modelling drug-related morbidity in Sweden using an expert panel of physicians,” respectively.
Source: Nordic School of Public Health.