Adverse drug events in hospitalized patients. Excess length of stay, extra costs, and attributable mortality

• HIT Description: Locally developed computerized medical record that contains an integrated patient database and an interactive modular knowledge base. It was used to estimate the rate of adverse drug events. More info...
  
• Purpose of Study: Estimate utilization costs and mortality due to Adverse Drug Events
  
• Years of study: 1990-1993
  
• Study Design: Matched Case Control Study
  
• Outcomes: Utilization costs and mortality of patients with confirmed ADEs
  

• Settings: This study was conducted at the LDS Hospital, an academic tertiary-care hospital.
• Evaluation Method:  During the period of the study, 91,574 patients were admitted and a total of 2,227 patients developed ADEs for a rate of 2.43 for 100 admissions. Among these 2,227 patients, 1,580 were selected as cases and were matched to 20,197 control patients who were admitted during the four-year study period.
• Utilization costs and mortality outcomes (as measu: The study reported that the crude mortality rate in cases with ADEs was 3.5% versus 1.05% in controls and that length of stay was 7.69 days for patients with ADEs versus 4.46 days for controls and the mean total cost of hospitalization was $10,010 compared with $5,355 in controls (all dollars presumably in 1997.) The mean attributable excess length of hospitalization was 1.74 days and the mean attributable excess hospital cost was $2,013. Multiple regression analysis reported that the occurrence of an ADE was associated with an increased length of 1.91 days and an increased cost of $2,262 and an increased risk of death of 1.88.