Adverse Drug Reactions in Elderly Inpatients: Comparison with Younger Patients

Abstract

Background: There have been few reports on the characteristics of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in elderly patients among the Korean population. Objective: To investigate the characteristics of ADRs in elderly patients compared with those in younger ones. Method: ADRs were collected from a spontaneous reporting system at our university hospital in 2008. Characteristics including underlying diseases, duration of hospitalization, clinical manifestations, culprit drugs and number of concomitant medications were compared between the young (＜65 years) and elderly (≥65 years) groups. Result: A total of 528 ADRs occurred in 513 patients, and 120 ADRs (22.7%) occurred in 116 elderly patients. Their mean age was 71.6 years. Antibiotics (45.8%) were the most common culprit drugs. The prevalence of ADRs due to cardiovascular drugs was significantly higher in the elderly group (9.2%) than in the young group (2.9%, P=0.003). The most prevalent clinical types were skin manifestations (40.5%), gastrointestinal abnormalities (28.4%) and systemic reactions (23.5%) in both groups. Renal function abnormalities were significantly more prevalent in the elderly group (4.2%) than in the young group (0.5%, P=0.008). The mean number of concomitant medications was significantly higher in the elderly group (6.5±4.6) than in the young group (1.9±3.9). Conclusion: For the early detection of ADRs in elderly patients, close monitoring of cardiovascular drug use and renal function are recommended.