U.S. Emergency Department Visits for Adverse Drug Events from Antibiotics in Children, 2011-2015

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc
• Personal Author:
  Lovegrove, Maribeth C. ; Geller, Andrew I. ; Fleming-Dutra, Katherine E. ; Shehab, Nadine ; Sapiano, Mathew R.P. ; Budnitz, Daniel S.
• Description:
  Background:
  
  Antibiotics are among the most commonly prescribed medications for children; however, at least one-third of pediatric antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessary. National data on short-term antibiotic-related harms could inform efforts to reduce overprescribing and supplement interventions that focus on long-term benefits of reducing antibiotic resistance.
  
  Methods:
  
  Frequencies and rates of emergency department (ED) visits for antibiotic adverse drug events (ADEs) in children were estimated using adverse event data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System–Cooperative Adverse Drug Event Surveillance project and retail pharmacy dispensing data from QuintilesIMS (2011-2015).
  
  Results:
  
  Based on 6,542 surveillance cases, an estimated 69,464 ED visits (95% confidence interval: 53,488-85,441) were made annually for antibiotic ADEs among children aged ≤19 years from 2011-2015, accounting for 46.2% of ED visits for ADEs from systemic medications. Two-fifths (40.7%) of ED visits for antibiotic ADEs involved children aged ≤2 years and 86.1% involved allergic reactions. Amoxicillin was the most commonly implicated antibiotic among children aged ≤9 years. Accounting for dispensed prescriptions, rates of ED visits for antibiotic ADEs declined with increasing age for all antibiotics except sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim. Amoxicillin had the highest rate of ED visits for antibiotic ADEs among children aged ≤2 years, whereas sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim had the highest rate among children aged 10-19 years (29.9 and 24.2 ED visits per 10,000 dispensed prescriptions, respectively).
  
  Conclusions:
  
  Antibiotic ADEs lead to many ED visits, particularly among young children. Communicating risks of antibiotic ADEs could help reduce unnecessary prescribing. Prevention efforts could target pediatric patients with greatest risks of harm.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems Age Factors Amoxicillin Anti-Bacterial Agents Child Child, Preschool Drug-Related Side Effects And Adverse Reactions Drug Hypersensitivity Emergency Service, Hospital Female Hospitalization Humans Infant Male Pediatric Emergency Medicine United States Young Adult

  More +
• Keywords:
  Adverse Drug Event Allergic Reaction Antibiotic Resistance Antibiotics Chlorination Household Water Treatment Medication Safety Safe Water Storage
• Source:
  J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. 8(5):384-391
• Pubmed ID:
  30137509
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC6467735
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  8
• Issue:
  5
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:5b09bbd8afe036a3fac872717435d6843870f9805b6acfbadb4781ecb1741d16
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/77602/cdc_77602_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 165.97 KB ]