Emergency Department Visits for Medication Harms Are Frequent

However, most common product type and intent of use associated with these visits vary by age

TUESDAY, Oct. 5, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Emergency department visits attributed to medication harms are frequent and vary by age for products and intent of use, according to a study published in the Oct. 5 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Daniel S. Budnitz, M.D., from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues assessed emergency department visits for acute harms from both therapeutic and nontherapeutic medication use in the United States. The analysis included 96,925 cases identified in the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-Cooperative Adverse Drug Event Surveillance Project (2017 through 2019).

The researchers found an estimated 6.1 emergency department visits for medication harms per 1,000 population annually, and 38.6 percent resulted in hospitalization. Rates of visits for medication harms were higher for patients aged 65 years or older versus those younger than 65 years (12.1 versus 5.0 per 1,000). Most emergency department visits for medication harm (69.1 percent) involved therapeutic medication use, except among younger patients (

This study “likely underestimated the prevalence of medication harms from therapeutic and nontherapeutic use of medications because it did not include medication harms diagnosed and treated outside of emergency departments,” the authors write.