Imputation of adverse drug reactions: Causality assessment in hospitals

Antiseizure adverse drug reaction and associated factors among epileptic patients at Jimma Medical Center: a prospective observational study

A growing body of evidence suggests that adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the healthcare system. Fifteen to twenty-five percent of patients with epilepsy discontinued antiseizure drugs (ASDs) within 6 months of therapy owing to intolerable adverse drug reactions. In Ethiopia, the prevalence of antiseizure adverse drug reactions and associated factors was not extensively conducted in advanced settings like Jimma Medical Centers. Hence, the objective of this study is to assess patterns of adverse drug reactions and associated factors among ambulatory epileptic patients at tertiary hospitals in Ethiopia. A hospital-based prospective observational study was spanned for 1 year. Two hundred ninety patients were consecutively recruited into the study from all epileptic patients attending the ambulatory clinic. Relevant data were collected through patient interviews and medical chart reviews. The causality assessment was done by using the Naranjo Probability Scale. Epi-Data manager version 4.6.0.4 was used for data entry and statistical analysis was performed by Statistical Package for Social Science version 25.0 (SPSS). Stepwise backward logistic regression analysis was done to identify factors that increase the risk of antiseizure adverse drug reactions. The mean (± SD) age of the participants were 29.91(± 11.26) years. The overall prevalence of ADR was 33.8% (95% CI 29.2-39.9%). A total of 110 adverse drug reactions were identified among 98 patients with an average of 1.12 per patient. ADRs were frequently reported with phenobarbital (52.04%) and phenytoin (34.70%). The commonly identified adverse drug reactions were epigastric pain (27.55%) and central nervous system drowsiness (23.46%). Comorbidity (AOR = 5.91, 95% CI (2.14-16.32), seizure-free period of fewer than 2 years (AOR = 1.94, 95% CI (1.18-3.19), and polytherapy (AOR = 1.35, 95% CI (1.80-2.26) were significantly associated with adverse drug reactions. This trial had a comparatively high percentage of adverse medication reactions. Adverse medication reactions were more common in patients with polytherapy, comorbidities, and seizure-free durations less than two years. Therefore, medical practitioners should advise patients who exhibit these traits on how to reduce or avoid bad drug responses or provide comfort in the event of small incidents.

Adverse drug events caused by three high-risk drug-drug interactions in patients admitted to intensive care units: A multicentre retrospective observational study

AIMS

Knowledge about adverse drug events caused by drug-drug interactions (DDI-ADEs) is limited. We aimed to provide detailed insights about DDI-ADEs related to three frequent, high-risk potential DDIs (pDDIs) in the critical care setting: pDDIs with international normalized ratio increase (INR+ ) potential, pDDIs with acute kidney injury (AKI) potential, and pDDIs with QTc prolongation potential.

METHODS

We extracted routinely collected retrospective data from electronic health records of intensive care units (ICUs) patients (≥18 years), admitted to ten hospitals in the Netherlands between January 2010 and September 2019. We used computerized triggers (e-triggers) to preselect patients with potential DDI-ADEs. Between September 2020 and October 2021, clinical experts conducted a retrospective manual patient chart review on a subset of preselected patients, and assessed causality, severity, preventability, and contribution to ICU length of stay of DDI-ADEs using internationally prevailing standards.

RESULTS

In total 85 422 patients with ≥1 pDDI were included. Of these patients, 32 820 (38.4%) have been exposed to one of the three pDDIs. In the exposed group, 1141 (3.5%) patients were preselected using e-triggers. Of 237 patients (21%) assessed, 155 (65.4%) experienced an actual DDI-ADE; 52.9% had severity level of serious or higher, 75.5% were preventable, and 19.3% contributed to a longer ICU length of stay. The positive predictive value was the highest for DDI-INR+ e-trigger (0.76), followed by DDI-AKI e-trigger (0.57).

CONCLUSION

The highly preventable nature and severity of DDI-ADEs, calls for action to optimize ICU patient safety. Use of e-triggers proved to be a promising preselection strategy.

Ertapenem blood concentration: A retrospective cohort study to analyse risk of neurotoxicity

AIMS

Several cases of ertapenem-related neurotoxicity have been published in the current literature. However, studies evaluating the ertapenem blood concentration (EBC) as a risk of these adverse events are scarce. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between the trough EBC and the risk of neurological toxicity.

METHODS

This was a retrospective study, including patients who underwent ertapenem treatment between October 2019 and February 2021. We excluded patients in the critical care unit and those whose blood samples were not properly taken in order to analyse ertapenem trough concentration. We also excluded patients whose clinical follow-up was not properly realized for the entire period of ertapenem treatment. The main outcome was the presence of any suspicious neurological side effect owing to ertapenem administration and its relationship with the plasma concentration. Secondary outcomes were to identify clinical and analytical data contributing to a higher risk of neurotoxicity.

RESULTS

The initial cohort comprised 158 individuals. For the final analysis we evaluated 102 patients, reporting a neurological alteration in 13/102 (12.7%). Mean trough EBC was significantly higher in patients showing neurotoxicity in comparison with those who did not (37.8 mcg mL-1 , standard deviation [SD] ± 35.7 vs. 14.6 mcg mL-1 , SD ± 15.2; P = .002). In multivariable logistic regression analysis, EBC (odds ratio [OR] = 1.07; P = .006), a moderate renal insufficiency (OR = 9.2; P = .02) and a history of previous neurologic disease (OR = 9.9; P = .02) were identified as risk factors of neurological alteration during ertapenem treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients at risk, determining the ertapenem plasma concentration may help to minimize the risk of neurotoxicity.

Drug-related causes attributed to acute kidney injury and their documentation in intensive care patients

PURPOSE

To investigate drug-related causes attributed to acute kidney injury (DAKI) and their documentation in patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

METHODS

This study was conducted in an academic hospital in the Netherlands by reusing electronic health record (EHR) data of adult ICU admissions between November 2015 to January 2020. First, ICU admissions with acute kidney injury (AKI) stage 2 or 3 were identified. Subsequently, three modes of DAKI documentation in EHR were examined: diagnosis codes (structured data), allergy module (semi-structured data), and clinical notes (unstructured data).

RESULTS

n total 8124 ICU admissions were included, with 542 (6.7%) ICU admissions experiencing AKI stage 2 or 3. The ICU physicians deemed 102 of these AKI cases (18.8%) to be drug-related. These DAKI cases were all documented in the clinical notes (100%), one in allergy module (1%) and none via diagnosis codes. The clinical notes required the highest time investment to analyze.

CONCLUSIONS

Drug-related causes comprise a substantial part of AKI in the ICU patients. However, current unstructured DAKI documentation practice via clinical notes hampers our ability to gain better insights about DAKI occurrence. Therefore, both automating DAKI identification from the clinical notes and increasing structured DAKI documentation should be encouraged.

Detection of Adverse Drug Reactions in COVID-19 Hospitalized Patients in Saudi Arabia: A Retrospective Study by ADR Prompt Indicators

Seeking an alternative approach for detecting adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in coronavirus patients (COVID-19) and enhancing drug safety, a retrospective study of six months was conducted utilizing an electronic medical record (EMR) database to detect ADRs in hospitalized patients for COVID-19, using "ADR prompt indicators" (APIs). Consequently, confirmed ADRs were subjected to multifaceted analyses, such as demographic attribution, relationship with specific drugs and implication for organs and systems of the body, incidence rate, type, severity, and preventability of ADR. The incidence rate of ADRs is 37%, the predisposition of organs and systems to ADR is observed remarkably in the hepatobiliary and gastrointestinal systems at 41.8% vs. 36.2%, p < 0.0001, and the classes of drugs implicated in the ADRs are lopinavir-ritonavir 16.3%, antibiotics 24.1%, and hydroxychloroquine12.8%. Furthermore, the duration of hospitalization and polypharmacy are significantly higher in patients with ADRs at 14.13 ± 7.87 versus 9.55 ± 7.90, p < 0.001, and 9.74 ± 5.51 versus 6.98 ± 4.36, p < 0.0001, respectively. Comorbidities are detected in 42.5% of patients and 75.2%, of patients with DM, and HTN, displaying significant ADRs, p-value < 0.05. This is a symbolic study providing a comprehensive acquaintance of the importance of APIs in detecting hospitalized ADRs, revealing increased detection rates and robust assertive values with insignificant costs, incorporating the hospital EMR database, and enhancing transparency and time effectiveness.

Adverse drug event detection using natural language processing: A scoping review of supervised learning methods

To reduce adverse drug events (ADEs), hospitals need a system to support them in monitoring ADE occurrence routinely, rapidly, and at scale. Natural language processing (NLP), a computerized approach to analyze text data, has shown promising results for the purpose of ADE detection in the context of pharmacovigilance. However, a detailed qualitative assessment and critical appraisal of NLP methods for ADE detection in the context of ADE monitoring in hospitals is lacking. Therefore, we have conducted a scoping review to close this knowledge gap, and to provide directions for future research and practice. We included articles where NLP was applied to detect ADEs in clinical narratives within electronic health records of inpatients. Quantitative and qualitative data items relating to NLP methods were extracted and critically appraised. Out of 1,065 articles screened for eligibility, 29 articles met the inclusion criteria. Most frequent tasks included named entity recognition (n = 17; 58.6%) and relation extraction/classification (n = 15; 51.7%). Clinical involvement was reported in nine studies (31%). Multiple NLP modelling approaches seem suitable, with Long Short Term Memory and Conditional Random Field methods most commonly used. Although reported overall performance of the systems was high, it provides an inflated impression given a steep drop in performance when predicting the ADE entity or ADE relation class. When annotating corpora, treating an ADE as a relation between a drug and non-drug entity seems the best practice. Future research should focus on semi-automated methods to reduce the manual annotation effort, and examine implementation of the NLP methods in practice.

Leech Application-related Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding: A Case Report

Leech therapy (Hirudotherapy) is a method used in the treatment of many diseases since ancient times. Although many complications have been reported following the use of this method, no systemic life-threatening bleeding has yet been described. A-43-year-old male patient was diagnosed with upper gastrointestinal bleeding following leech application that he had received for infertility one week earlier. The complications of hirudotherapy typically spontaneously improve due to the local effects of this treatment. The most frequently reported complications are local infections, and less commonly allergies and prolonged local bleeding can occur. However, in this case report, we describe a life-threatening upper gastrointestinal bleeding as a new complication. Gastrointestinal bleeding appearing a week after leech therapy does not necessarily mean that leeches caused gastrointestinal bleeding in this case. Nevertheless, considering the development time of gastrointestinal bleeding, it can be deduced that it was possibly due to hirudotherapy. Patients should be informed about alarming symptoms that can indicate complications following leech application.

Effectiveness of Antiseizure Medication Duotherapies in Patients With Glioma: A Multicenter Observational Cohort Study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

About 30% of patients with glioma need an add-on antiseizure medication (ASM) due to uncontrolled seizures on ASM monotherapy. This study aimed to determine whether levetiracetam combined with valproic acid (LEV + VPA), a commonly prescribed duotherapy, is more effective than other duotherapy combinations including either LEV or VPA in patients with glioma.

METHODS

In this multicenter retrospective observational cohort study, treatment failure (i.e., replacement by, addition of, or withdrawal of an ASM) for any reason was the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes included (1) treatment failure due to uncontrolled seizures and (2) treatment failure due to adverse effects. Time to treatment failure was estimated from the moment of ASM duotherapy initiation. Multivariable cause-specific Cox proportional hazard models were estimated to study the association between risk factors and treatment failure. The maximum duration of follow-up was 36 months.

RESULTS

A total of 1,435 patients were treated with first-line monotherapy LEV or VPA, of which 355 patients received ASM duotherapy after they had treatment failure due to uncontrolled seizures on monotherapy. LEV + VPA was prescribed in 66% (236/355) and other ASM duotherapy combinations including LEV or VPA in 34% (119/355) of patients. Patients using other duotherapy vs LEV + VPA had a higher risk of treatment failure for any reason (cause-specific adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.50 [95% CI 1.07-2.12], p = 0.020), due to uncontrolled seizures (cause-specific aHR 1.73 [95% CI 1.10-2.73], p = 0.018), but not due to adverse effects (cause-specific aHR 0.88 [95% CI 0.47-1.67], p = 0.703).

DISCUSSION

This observational cohort study suggests that LEV + VPA has better efficacy than other ASM combinations. Similar toxicities were experienced in the 2 groups.

CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE

This study provides Class III evidence that for patients with glioma with uncontrolled seizures on ASM monotherapy, LEV + VPA has better efficacy than other ASM combinations.

Adverse Drug Reactions at Nonelective Hospital Admission in Children and Adolescents: Comparison of 4 Causality Assessment Methods

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to compare assessment methods to determine adverse drug reactions (ADRs) at nonelective hospital admission in pediatric patients, to investigate the interrater reliability of assessment methods in pediatric care, and to analyze symptoms related to ADRs and (suicidal) drug intoxications.

METHODS

For 1 year, the medical records of nonelective patients admitted to a university pediatric department were evaluated for potential ADRs using 4 assessments methods by 1 experienced rater. Krippendorff α was calculated from a sample of 14 patients evaluated by 4 experienced raters to determine interrater reliability.

RESULTS

In 1831 nonelective hospital admissions, 63.4% (1161 of 1831) of patients had received at least one drug before admission. We found a potential causal relationship between drugs and symptoms documented at admission and thus potential ADRs according to Naranjo in 23.3% (271 of 1161) of those patients, World Health Organization - Uppsala Monitoring Centre (WHO-UMC) in 22.5% (261 of 1161), Koh in 21.7% (252 of 1161), and Begaud in 16.5% (192 of 1161). The probability rating of the potential causal relationships varied considerably between the methods (Naranjo-Begaud, P < 0.01; Naranjo-Koh, P < 0.001; Koh-Begaud, P < 0.01; Begaud-WHO-UMC, P < 0.01). Acceptable interrater reliability (α ≥ 0.667) was only obtained for WHO-UMC (α = 0.7092). The most frequently identified definite ADR was sedation in 1.5% of all nonelective patients with medication before hospital admission. In 1.2% (22 of 1831) of all nonelective admissions, we found drug intoxications with suicidal intent.

CONCLUSIONS

The assessment methods showed a high variability in the determination of a potential causal relationship between drug and documented symptom, in the classification of the probability of ADRs, and suboptimal interrater reliability. Thus, their feasibility in pediatric patients is limited.

Causality assessment of adverse drug reactions by applying a global introspection method in a high complexity hospital

Background

Causality assessment of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is an essential approach in pharmacovigilance. The World Health Organization-Uppsala Monitoring Center (WHO-UMC) system has been considered one of the most adequate method for establishing causal relationship in hospitalized patients.

Objective

To describe the causality of potential ADRs in hospitalized patients assessed by the WHO-UMC system and by different healthcare professionals.

Methods

Three healthcare professionals, with different backgrounds, acted as judges to adjudicate the causality categories for potential ADRs according to WHO-UMC system, in a Brazilian high complexity hospital. Judges' agreement was evaluated by using Fleiss' and Cohen's kappa coefficients.

Results

Ninety potential ADRs identified in 300 participants were adjudicated by each judge, comprising a total of 270 assessments. Most potential ADRs were classified as probable or possible (77.8%). Fleiss´ kappa revealed slight concordance among judges (k = 0.096;CI:95%;0.01–0.18).

Conclusions

Diverse backgrounds may have influenced the results for causality assessment of ADRs by employing the WHO-UMC system. Despite the slight concordance found for the method, this result suggests potential opportunity to enrich the ADRs management by engaging multiprofessional teams in the process. Further studies should be considered to investigate the performance of methods for ADRs assessment in hospitalized patients in low- and middle-income countries.

First-line antiepileptic drug treatment in glioma patients with epilepsy: Levetiracetam vs valproic acid

Objective

This study aimed at estimating the cumulative incidence of antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment failure of first‐line monotherapy levetiracetam vs valproic acid in glioma patients with epilepsy.

Methods

In this retrospective observational study, a competing risks model was used to estimate the cumulative incidence of treatment failure, from AED treatment initiation, for the two AEDs with death as a competing event. Patients were matched on baseline covariates potentially related to treatment assignment and outcomes of interest according to the nearest neighbor propensity score matching technique. Maximum duration of follow‐up was 36 months.

Results

In total, 776 patients using levetiracetam and 659 using valproic acid were identified. Matching resulted in two equal groups of 429 patients, with similar covariate distribution. The cumulative incidence of treatment failure for any reason was significantly lower for levetiracetam compared to valproic acid (12 months: 33% [95% confidence interval (CI) 29%–38%] vs 50% [95% CI 45%–55%]; P < .001). When looking at specific reasons of treatment failure, treatment failure due to uncontrolled seizures was significantly lower for levetiracetam compared to valproic acid (12 months: 16% [95% CI 12%–19%] vs 28% [95% CI 23%–32%]; P < 0.001), but no differences were found for treatment failure due to adverse effects (12 months: 14% [95% CI 11%–18%] vs 15% [95% CI 11%–18%]; P = .636).

Significance

Our results suggest that levetiracetam may have favorable efficacy compared to valproic acid, whereas level of toxicity seems similar. Therefore, levetiracetam seems to be the preferred choice for first‐line AED treatment in patients with glioma.

Causality and avoidability of adverse drug reactions of antibiotics in hospitalized children: a cohort study

BACKGROUND

Adverse drug reactions are a problem in healthcare systems worldwide. Children are more susceptible than adults, especially when exposed to specific drug classes, such as antibiotics.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the incidence, causality, severity, and avoidability of antibiotic-associated adverse drug reactions in hospitalized pediatric patients.

SETTING

Pediatric ward of a high-complexity public hospital in northeast Brazil.

METHODS

A prospective cohort study was conducted over six months, including children aged between 28 days and 12 years, hospitalized for more than 48 h, and receiving antibiotics. Liverpool's causality and avoidability assessment tools were used. Primary outcome measures: Incidence of adverse drug reactions, causality, severity, and avoidability, major antibiotics implicated, risk factors.

RESULTS

A total of 183 patients were followed, and 35 suspected adverse drug reactions were recorded overall incidence equal to 14.7%. Most adverse drug reactions were classified as moderate severity (76.7%), probable (57.1%) and defined (28.6%) causality, and unavoidable (66.7%). The affected organs were the gastrointestinal system (74.1%) and skin (25.9%). Major antibiotics implicated were ceftriaxone (40.7%), azithromycin (25.9%), and crystalline penicillin (11.1%). The number of antibiotics prescribed per patient during hospitalization and the length of stay were the risk factors identified.

CONCLUSION

Causality and severity assessment indicated that most adverse drug reactions were probable and moderate. Possibly avoidable reactions occurred due to inappropriate prescribing when preventive measures were not implemented. Monitoring the use of antibiotics in children is essential to ensure the safety of these patients.

Utilization of the Naranjo scale to evaluate adverse drug reactions at a free-standing children's hospital

The relationship between the Naranjo scaling system and pediatric adverse drug reactions (ADR) is poorly understood. We performed a retrospective review of 1,676 pediatric ADRs documented at our hospital from 2014–2018. We evaluated patient demographics, implicated medication, ADR severity, calculated Naranjo score, associated symptoms, and location within the hospital in which the ADR was documented. ADR severity was poorly correlated with Naranjo interpretation. Out of the 10 Naranjo scale questions, 4 had a response of “unknown” greater than 85% of the time. Cardiovascular and oncological/immunologic agents were more likely to have a probable or definite Naranjo interpretation compared to antimicrobials. Further strategies are needed to enhance the causality assessment of pediatric ADRs in clinical care.

Adverse Drug Events and Contributing Factors Among Hospitalized Adult Patients at Jimma Medical Center, Southwest Ethiopia: A Prospective Observational Study

Background

Adverse drug events (ADEs) are common complications of clinical care resulting in significant morbidity, mortality, and high clinical expenditure. Population-level estimates of inpatient ADEs are limited in Ethiopia.

Objective

This study aimed to assess the incidence, contributing factors, severity, and preventability of ADEs among hospitalized adult patients at Jimma Medical Center, Ethiopia.

Methods

A prospective observational study design was conducted among hospitalized adult patients at tertiary hospital in Ethiopia. A structured data collection tool was prepared from relevant literatures for data collection. Data were analyzed using statistical software. Logistic regression was performed to identify factors contributing to ADE occurrence. P values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results

A total of 319 patients were included with follow-up period of 5667 person-days. About 50.5% were women. The mean (SD) age of patients was 43 (17.6) years. One hundred sixteen ADEs were identified with the incidence of 36.4 (95% CI, 30.1-43.6) per 100 admissions and 20.5 (95% CI, 16.9-24.6) per 1000 person-days. Antituberculosis agents (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 2.52; 95% CI, 1.06-5.98; P = 0.036), disease of the circulatory system (aOR = 2.67; 95% CI, 1.46-4.89; P = 0.001), disease of the digestive system (aOR = 2.84; 95% CI, 1.45-5.57; P = 0.002), being on medication during admission (aOR = 3.09; 95% CI, 1.77-5.41; P < 0.001), and hospital stay more than 2 weeks (aOR = 3.93; 95% CI, 1.39-11.12; P = 0.010) were independent predictors of ADE occurrence.

Conclusions

One in every 4 patients admitted to the hospital experienced ADEs during their hospital stay. Most ADEs were moderate in severity. About two-thirds of the ADEs identified were deemed probably or definitely preventable. Therefore, it is high time to reinforce large-scale efforts to redesign safer, higher quality health care systems to adequately tackle the problem.

Descriptive study of adverse drug reactions in a tertiary care pediatric hospital in México from 2014 to 2017

INTRODUCTION

In Pediatrics, adverse drug reactions (ADRs) affect morbidity and mortality. In Mexico, the characteristics of ADRs and suspect drugs have not been described in hospitalized children.

OBJECTIVE

To estimate the frequency of ADRs and describe them, as well as suspect drugs, in a tertiary care pediatric hospital in Mexico.

METHODS

A total of 1,649 Hospital Infantil de Mexico Federico Gómez ADR reports were analyzed. Completeness of the information was assessed, and ADRs severity and seriousness were assigned based on NOM-220-SSA1-2012, with causality being established according to the Naranjo algorithm. ADRs were classified with WHO Adverse Drug Reaction Terminology (WHO-ART). The drugs involved in ADRs were categorized according to the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification. Descriptive analysis was performed using the SPSS 20 statistical package.

RESULTS

Of all the reports, 5.8% lacked sufficient information for the analysis (grade 0). ADRs frequency ranged from 2.12% to 8.07%. ADRs occurred most commonly in children (56.9%), in the female gender (52%), in subjects with normal BMI Z-score (46.6%) and malnutrition (35.3%), diagnosed with neoplasms (72.2%) and in the Emergency Department (70.0%). ADRs were severe in 14.4% of cases, in 81.0% they were serious and 2.1% were classified as definite. Most common serious ADR was febrile neutropenia (44.5%). The 0.7% of patients recovering with sequelae; 1.1% died (with the medication being associated) and 70.3% were admitted to the hospital as a result of an ADR. Antineoplastic and immunomodulating agents were more commonly associated with serious ADRs.

CONCLUSION

ADRs affected morbidity and mortality, which is why strengthening pharmacovigilance programs in Mexican pediatric hospitals is necessary.

Revisiting the Association Between "Gateway Hypothesis" of Early Drug Use and Drug Use Progression: A Cohort Analysis of Peer Influences on Drug Use Progression Among a Population Cohort

Background and objective: Findings from observational studies indicate that early drug use is a strong predictor of further drug abuse. Because competing explanations abound in cross-sectional studies, causal interpretations from these investigations pose considerable challenge. We evaluated the relationship between early drug use and progression, while estimating modifying influences of adolescents' social contexts. Method: We applied a national longitudinal survey of 11,182 adolescents growing into adulthood over a 14-year period. The data provided a natural setting to evaluate the relationship between early drug use and drug use in three subsequent waves. We applied generalized estimating equation models to analyze these relationships. Results: Evidence showed over a relatively short period (approximately one year) early drug use was an independent predictor of illicit drugs in adolescence but not adulthood. The adjusted odds ratio for using substances in adulthood were marijuana (aOR, 1.33; 95% CI: 1.11-1.60), illicit drugs (aOR, 1.49; 95% CI: 1.04-2.12) and cocaine (aOR, 5.00; 95% CI: 2.75-9.10). Further, drug use was higher among older adolescence living in a neighborhood and reporting drug use as a big problem. In adulthood, neighborhood drug problems appear to have minimal influence on drug use escalation. Conclusion: The current findings call into question the causal interpretation of early drug use among adolescents as determinants of future drug escalation in adulthood. The overall impact of peer relationships on future drug escalation might depend on not only the extent of adolescent closeness to peers but also on continuity of friendship over time and other influencing social contexts.

E-Synthesis: A Bayesian Framework for Causal Assessment in Pharmacosurveillance

Background: Evidence suggesting adverse drug reactions often emerges unsystematically and unpredictably in form of anecdotal reports, case series and survey data. Safety trials and observational studies also provide crucial information regarding the (un-)safety of drugs. Hence, integrating multiple types of pharmacovigilance evidence is key to minimising the risks of harm.

Methods: In previous work, we began the development of a Bayesian framework for aggregating multiple types of evidence to assess the probability of a putative causal link between drugs and side effects. This framework arose out of a philosophical analysis of the Bradford Hill Guidelines. In this article, we expand the Bayesian framework and add “evidential modulators,” which bear on the assessment of the reliability of incoming study results. The overall framework for evidence synthesis, “E-Synthesis”, is then applied to a case study.

Results: Theoretically and computationally, E-Synthesis exploits coherence of partly or fully independent evidence converging towards the hypothesis of interest (or of conflicting evidence with respect to it), in order to update its posterior probability. With respect to other frameworks for evidence synthesis, our Bayesian model has the unique feature of grounding its inferential machinery on a consolidated theory of hypothesis confirmation (Bayesian epistemology), and in allowing any data from heterogeneous sources (cell-data, clinical trials, epidemiological studies), and methods (e.g., frequentist hypothesis testing, Bayesian adaptive trials, etc.) to be quantitatively integrated into the same inferential framework.

Conclusions: E-Synthesis is highly flexible concerning the allowed input, while at the same time relying on a consistent computational system, that is philosophically and statistically grounded. Furthermore, by introducing evidential modulators, and thereby breaking up the different dimensions of evidence (strength, relevance, reliability), E-Synthesis allows them to be explicitly tracked in updating causal hypotheses.

New Insights in Computational Methods for Pharmacovigilance: E-Synthesis, a Bayesian Framework for Causal Assessment

Today’s surge of big data coming from multiple sources is raising the stakes that pharmacovigilance has to win, making evidence synthesis a more and more robust approach in the field. In this scenario, many scholars believe that new computational methods derived from data mining will effectively enhance the detection of early warning signals for adverse drug reactions, solving the gauntlets that post-marketing surveillance requires. This article highlights the need for a philosophical approach in order to fully realize a pharmacovigilance 2.0 revolution. A state of the art on evidence synthesis is presented, followed by the illustration of E-Synthesis, a Bayesian framework for causal assessment. Computational results regarding dose-response evidence are shown at the end of this article.

Adverse drug reaction causality assessment tools for drug-induced Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis: room for improvement

PURPOSE

Establishment of causality between drug exposure and adverse drug reactions (ADR) is challenging even for serious ADRs such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN). Several causality assessment tools (CAT) exist, but the reliability and validity of such tools is variable. The objective of this study was to compare the reliability and validity of existing ADR CATs on SJS/TEN cases.

METHODS

Seven investigators completed three CAT (ALDEN, Naranjo, Liverpool) for 10 SJS/TEN cases. Each CAT categorized the causality of 30 potential drugs as definite/very probable, probable, possible, or doubtful/unlikely. An additional reviewer provided expert opinion by designating the implicated drug(s) for each case. A Kappa score was generated to compare CAT responses both by method (reliability of all 7 reviewers, by CATs) and by reviewer (reliability of the 3 CAT, by reviewer). A c statistic was calculated to assess validity.

RESULTS

Inter-rater reliability by CAT was poor to fair: ALDEN 0.22, Naranjo 0.11, and Liverpool 0.12. Reliability was highest when causality classification was definite/very probable (0.16-0.41). Similarly, intra-rater reliability by reviewer was poor. When comparing the validity of the overall CAT to expert reviewer, area under the curve was highest for ALDEN (c statistic 0.65) as compared to Liverpool (0.55) or Naranjo (0.54).

CONCLUSION

Available CAT have poor reliability and validity for drug-induced SJS/TEN. Due to the importance of determining ADR causality for research, industry, and regulatory purposes, development of an enhanced tool that can incorporate data from immunological testing and pharmacogenetic results may strengthen CAT usefulness and applicability for drug-induced SJS/TEN.

A cohort study of intranasal fentanyl for procedural pain management in neonates

Objectives

The objective of this cohort study was to document experience with intranasal (IN) fentanyl analgesia for procedural pain management in neonates in a surgical neonatal intensive care unit. A consecutive sample of 23 neonates without intravenous access treated with IN fentanyl was included.

Methods

Data were extracted from medical charts, including infant characteristics, indication for IN fentanyl, dose, physiologic parameters (heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, blood pressure) and pain scores. Physiologic parameters were recorded for 6 hours before and after IN fentanyl. Pain scores were recorded during and after the procedure using the Premature Infant Pain Profile (PIPP).

Results

The mean (SD) postmenstrual age of included infants was 31.8 weeks (4.1), and 52% were receiving some form of ventilator support. The mean dose of IN fentanyl was 1.3 mcg/kg (0.4) and most common indication was analgesia for peripheral insertion of central catheter. There were six cases of cardiorespiratory depression as defined, however, clinical factors could account for all of them. The mean PIPP score during and after the procedure was 4.3 (1.8) and 3.6 (1.5), respectively (scores <6 indicate no pain).

Conclusions

This small study provides some preliminary evidence of the benefits and risks of IN fentanyl in this population.

Survival Time to Biopsy-Proven Acute Rejection and Tacrolimus Adverse Drug Reactions in Pediatric Liver Transplantation

BACKGROUND

Despite advances in surgical procedures and the optimization of immunosuppressive therapies in pediatric liver transplantation, acute rejection (AR) and serious adverse drug reaction (ADR) to tacrolimus still contribute to morbidity and mortality. Identifying risk factors of safety and efficacy parameters may help in optimizing individual immunosuppressive therapies. This study aimed to identify peritransplant predictors of AR and factors related to the risk of ADR to tacrolimus in a large Latin American cohort of pediatric liver transplant patients.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective cohort study in a pediatric liver transplant population (n = 72). Peritransplant variables were collected retrospectively including demographic, clinical, laboratory parameters, genomic (CYP3A5 donor and recipients polymorphism), and tacrolimus trough concentrations (C0) over a 2-year follow-up period. Variability in tacrolimus C0 was calculated using percent coefficient of variation and tortuosity. ADR- and AR-free survival rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and risk factors were identified by multivariate Cox regression models.

RESULTS

Cox-proportional hazard models identified that high tortuosity in tacrolimus C0 was associated with an 80% increased risk of AR [hazard ratio (HR), 1.80; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.01-3.22; P < 0.05], whereas steroid in maintenance doses decreased this risk (HR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.31-0.99; P < 0.05). Forty-six patients experienced at least one ADR including hypomagnesemia, nephrotoxicity, hypertension, malignancies, and tremor as a first event. Multivariate analysis showed that C0 values 10 days before the event (HR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.21-1.39; P < 0.0001) and CYP3A5 expresser recipients (HR, 2.05; 95% CI, 1.03-4.06; P < 0.05) were independent predictors of ADR.

CONCLUSIONS

Tacrolimus C0 values, its variability, and CYP3A5 polymorphisms were identified as risk factors of AR and tacrolimus ADR. This knowledge may help to control and reduce their incidence in pediatric liver transplant patients. Prospective studies are important to validate these results.

Rhabdomyolysis Induced by Isoniazid in a Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis and End-stage Renal Disease: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

A 76-year-old man complicated with end-stage renal disease had latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI), and isoniazid (INH) 300 mg daily was started to prevent reactivation of LTBI before using biologic agents for rheumatoid arthritis. On the 8th day after administration of INH, he presented with a fever, petechiae, and myalgia. Serological studies revealed elevated myogenic enzymes and creatinine level. Based on the exclusion of other etiologies, rapid improvement with cessation of INH, and the recurrence of the fever and myalgia with re-administration of a reduced dose of INH, we diagnosed him with INH-induced rhabdomyolysis. Physicians should be aware of rhabdomyolysis induced by INH at a therapeutic dose as an infrequent but potentially fatal adverse drug reaction.

Comparison of different methods for causality assessment of adverse drug reactions

Background The causality assessment of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) remains a challenge, and none of the different available method of causality assessment used for assessing adverse reactions has been universally accepted as the gold standard. Objective To examine the agreement and correlation among three broad approaches for causality assessment of ADRs viz. World Health Organization-Uppsala Monitoring Centre (WHO-UMC) system, Naranjo algorithm, and updated Logistic method. Setting ADR monitoring centre (AMC) of a tertiary care teaching hospital in India. Method A total of 230 cases of ADR from April 2017 to August 2017 were retrospectively analyzed by each of these three methods. The agreement among the different methods was calculated by Cohen's kappa (κ), and Spearman's correlation was used to find the correlation among these methods. Main outcome measures Cohen's kappa value and Spearman's correlation coefficient for comparison among the different methods. Results The Cohen's κ used for analyzing the agreement between WHO-UMC system and Naranjo algorithm was 0.45, between WHO-UMC system and updated Logistic method was 0.405, and between Naranjo algorithm and updated Logistic method was 0.606. The Spearman's correlation coefficient was 0.793 for Naranjo algorithm vs. updated Logistic method, 0.735 for WHO-UMC system vs. Naranjo algorithm, and 0.696 for WHO-UMC system vs. updated Logistic method. Conclusion Causality assessment based on objective measurements (scores and probabilities) like updated Logistic method and Naranjo algorithm are less prone to subjective variations compared to the WHO-UMC system which is based on expert judgement.

Causality and preventability assessment of adverse drug reactions and adverse drug events of antibiotics among hospitalized patients: A multicenter, cross-sectional study in Lahore, Pakistan

Background and objectives

Adverse drug events (ADEs) are the fifth leading cause of death and thus responsible for a large number of hospital admissions in all over the globe. This study was aimed to assess the antibiotics associated preventability of ADEs and causality of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) among hospitalized patients.

Methods

A prospective, cross-sectional, observational study was conducted in four tertiary care public sector hospitals of Lahore, Pakistan. Study population consisted of hospitalized patients who were prescribed with one or more antibiotics. Data were collected between 1^st January, 2017 and 31^st June, 2017 from 1,249 patients (384 patients aged ≤ 18 years and 865 patients aged >18 years). Schumock and Thornton scale was used to assess the preventability of the ADEs. Medication errors (MEs) that caused preventable ADEs were assessed by MEs tracking form while Naranjo score was used to evaluate the causal relation of ADRs with the antibiotics. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 21.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.) and Microsoft Excel (MS Office, 2010) were used for data analysis.

Results

2,686 antibiotics were prescribed to 1,249 patients. Among them, fluoroquinolones (11.8%), macrolides (11.6%) and cephalosporins (10.9%) were the most frequently prescribed antibiotics. The most affected organ system by antibiotics associated ADEs was gastrointestinal tract. A total of 486 ADEs were found. The preventability assessment revealed that most of the ADEs (58.4%) were preventable (43.6% of the ADEs were definitely preventable while 14.8% were probably preventable) and caused by MEs including wrong drug (40.1%) and monitoring errors (25.0%), during the stage of physician ordering (22.2%) and patient monitoring (21.1%). The errors were caused due to non-adherence of policies (38.4%) and lack of information about antibiotics (32%). Most of the non-preventable ADEs or ADRs among adults and children were “probable” (35.5%) and “possible” (35.8%), respectively. Logistic regression analysis revealed that ADEs were significantly less among females (OR = 0.047, 95%CI = 0.018–0.121, p-value = <0.001), patients aged 18–52 years (OR = 0.041, 95%CI = 0.013–0.130, p-value = <0.001), tuberculosis patients (OR = 0.304, 95%CI = 0.186–0.497, p-value = <0.001), patients with acute respiratory tract infections (OR = 0.004, 95%CI = 0.01−0.019, p-value = <0.001) and among the patients prescribed with 2 antibiotics per prescription (OR = 0.455, 95%CI = 0.319–0.650, p-value = <0.001).

Conclusion

According to preventability assessment most of the ADEs were definitely preventable and caused by MEs due to non-adherence of policies and lack of information about antibiotics. The causality assessment of non-preventable ADEs showed that most of the ADRs were probable and possible.

Causality and preventability assessment of adverse drug events of antibiotics among inpatients having different lengths of hospital stay: a multicenter, cross-sectional study in Lahore, Pakistan

BACKGROUND

A large number of hospital admissions are attributed to adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and they are the fifth leading cause of death worldwide. The present study aimed to assess the causality and preventability of adverse drug events (ADEs) of antibiotics among inpatients having different lengths of hospital stay.

METHODS

A prospective, observational study was conducted in four tertiary-care public sector hospitals of Lahore, Pakistan. Study population consisted of hospitalized patients who were prescribed one or more antibiotics. Data were collected between 1st January, 2017 and 30th June, 2017 from 1249 patients. Naranjo score, modified Schumock and Thornton scale were used for causality and preventability assessments, respectively. Medication errors (MEs) were assessed by MEs tracking form. SPSS and Microsoft Excel were used for data analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 2686 antibiotics were prescribed to 1249 patients and 486 ADEs were found. The preventability assessment revealed that most of the ADEs (78.8%) were found among patients having long length of stay (LOS) in hospital and were preventable (59.3% of the ADEs were definitely preventable while 44.7% were probably preventable) and caused by MEs including wrong drug (40.1%) and monitoring errors (25%). The errors were caused due to non-adherence of policies (38.4%) and lack of information about antibiotics (32%). Most of the non-preventable ADEs or ADRs among patients having long and short LOS in hospital were "probable" (35.5%) and "possible" (35.8%), respectively. Logistic regression analysis revealed that ADEs were significantly less among females (OR = 0.047, 95% CI = 0.018─0.121, p-value = < 0.001), patients aged 18─52 years (OR = 0.041, 95% CI = 0.013─0.130, p-value = < 0.001), patients with ARTIs (OR = 0.004, 95% CI = 0.01-0.019, p-value = < 0.001), patients prescribed with 2 antibiotics per prescription (OR = 0.455, 95% CI = 0.319─0.650, p-value = < 0.001) and patients with long LOS (OR = 14.825, 95% CI = 11.198─19.627, p-value = < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Antibiotics associated definitely preventable ADEs were more commonly found in patients having long LOS in the inpatient departments because of MEs and lack of proper pharmacovigilance system. The ADRs showed a probable and possible causal association with both β-lactams and non β-lactams antibiotics.