Persistence of Adverse Drug Reaction-Related Hospitalization Risk Following Discharge

This retrospective cohort study analyzed the administrative hospital records of 91,500 patients with the aim of assessing adverse drug reaction (ADR)-related hospital admission risk after discharge from ADR and non-ADR-related admission. Patients aged ≥18 years with an acute admission to public hospitals in Tasmania, Australia between 2011 and 2015 were followed until May 2017. The index admissions (n = 91,550) were stratified based on whether they were ADR-related (n = 2843, 3.1%) or non-ADR-related (n = 88,707, 96.9%). Survival analysis assessed the post-index ADR-related admission risk using (1) the full dataset, and (2) a matched subset of patients using a propensity score analysis. Logistic regression was used to identify the risk factors for ADR-related admissions within 90 days of post-index discharge. The patients with an ADR-related index admission were almost five times more likely to experience another ADR-related admission within 90 days (p < 0.001). An increased risk persisted for at least 5 years (p < 0.001), which was substantially longer than previously reported. From the matched subset of patients, the risk of ADR-related admission within 90 and 365 days more than doubled in the patients with an ADR-related index admission (p < 0.0001). These admissions were often attributed to the same drug class as the patients’ index ADR-related admission. Cancer was a major risk factor for ADR-related re-hospitalization within 90 days; other factors included heart failure and increasing age.