Study Results from Pusan National University Provide New Insights into Adverse Drug Reactions (Exploring the prevalence and characteristics of adverse drug events among older adults in South Korea using a national health insurance database): Drugs and Therapies – Adverse Drug Reactions

2022 DEC 16 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health & Medicine Business Daily -- Fresh data on adverse drug reactions are presented in a new report. According to news originating from Busan, South Korea, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Adverse drug events (ADEs) in the elderly frequently occur because of their multiple chronic diseases and complexity of drug therapy. To better understand adverse drug events, the prevalence and characteristics of adverse drug events in elderly South Korean patients were assessed.”

Funders for this research include Ministry of Food And Drug Safety; National Research Foundation of Korea.

The news editors obtained a quote from the research from Pusan National University: “The National Health Insurance databases for 2015 and 2016 were used for the analysis. We included patients aged 65 years that had at least one claim with the diagnosis codes ‘drug-induced,’ ‘poisoning by drug,’ and ‘vaccine-associated’ each year for the base-case analysis. To minimize the underestimation of adverse drug event prevalence, we also used an extended definition analysis by adding the ‘adverse drug event very likely’ codes. We estimated the prevalence of adverse drug events by sex, age group, and type of insurance and examined the frequent types of adverse drug events in 2015 and 2016. In the base-case analysis, adverse drug event prevalence in individuals aged 65 years and older was 2.75% in 2015 and 2.77% in 2016. With advanced age, the prevalence of adverse drug event tended to increase, peaking in the age group of 75-79 years. In addition, the adverse drug event prevalence was higher in females and Medical Aid enrollees. The most frequently occurring adverse drug event was ‘allergy, unspecified,’ followed by ‘other drug-induced secondary parkinsonism,’ and ‘generalized skin eruption due to drugs and medicaments.’ When we examined the extended definition analysis, the prevalence of adverse drug events was 4.47% in 2015 and 4.52% in 2016, which significantly increased from those estimated in the base-case analysis.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Among the older adults, the prevalence of adverse drug event was higher in advanced age, females, and Medical Aid enrollees. In particular, allergy and drug-induced secondary parkinsonism frequently occurred. This study provides evidence that health policies addressing the prevention and management of adverse drug events should be a priority for the most vulnerable elderly patients.”

For more information on this research see: Exploring the prevalence and characteristics of adverse drug events among older adults in South Korea using a national health insurance database. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2022,13. (Frontiers in Pharmacology - http://journal.frontiersin.org/journal/pharmacology). The publisher for Frontiers in Pharmacology is Frontiers Media S.A.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.1047387.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Eunkyeong Choi, College of Pharmacy, Pusan National University, Busan, South Korea. Additional authors for this research include Siin Kim, Hae Sun Suh.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)