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Arellano, AlAuthor

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May 2, 2022
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Drug-related deaths in hospital inpatients: A retrospective cohort study

Publicated to:British Journal Of Clinical Pharmacology. 84 (3): 542-552 - 2018-03-01 84(3), DOI: 10.1111/bcp.13471

Authors: Montane, E; Arellano, AL; Sanz, Y; Roca, J; Farre, M

Affiliations

Hosp Badalona Germans Trias & Pujol, Dept Clin Pharmacol, Carretera Canyet S-N, Barcelona 08916, Spain - Author
Hosp Badalona Germans Trias & Pujol, Epidemiol Unit, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Univ Autonoma Barcelona, Dept Pharmacol Therapeut & Toxicol, Barcelona, Spain - Author

Abstract

AimsTo determine the incidence of drug-related deaths (DRD) in a university hospital in 2015, to describe their characteristics, and to discover risk factors of DRD. MethodsAn analytic and retrospective cohort study. Patients with a death diagnosed predefined from a list of medical conditions potentially caused by drugs were the selected cases for further review. Causality assessment was evaluated by a local drug safety committee. ResultsOut of 1135 inpatient deaths, 73 DRD were included (six were hospital-acquired). The incidence of DRD of all hospital admissions was 0.34%, and the incidence of all deaths cases was 7%. Drugs were the cause of death in 38 patients (52%) and a contributive role in 35 (48%). The median age of DRD patients was 72years (range 19-94) and 72.6% were men. The median hospital stay, Charlson score and number of drugs were 5days, 2 points and seven drugs respectively. The most frequent DRD were cerebral haemorrhages and infections in drug-immunosuppressed patients (32, 43.8%, each group). The most frequently involved drugs were antineoplastics and glucocorticosteroids (40% and 18%), and antithrombotics (33%); drug-drug interactions were present in 44% DRD. Sex, age and number of drugs were risk factors of DRD. ConclusionsAdverse drug reactions were a significant cause of death in hospitalized patients, mainly haemorrhages and infections precipitated by drug-drug interactions. Risk factors for DRD were sex, age and number of drugs. Preventable DRD and measures to avoid them should be accurately assessed in further studies.

Keywords

adverse drug reactionepidemiologyhospital mortalityAdmissionsAdverse drug reactionEpidemiologyEventsGuideHospital mortalityIncidenceMortalityPharmacologyPrevalence

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal British Journal Of Clinical Pharmacology due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2018, it was in position 57/267, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Pharmacology & Pharmacy.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.01. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 12.63 (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-16, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 24

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-16:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 79.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 76 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 40.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 47 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions in news outlets: 1 (Altmetric).