Retrospective Analysis of Patient-Reported Adverse Drug Reactions in an Italian Allergy Unit: ALLERG-RAF Study

Abstract

Introduction: The Italian Medicines Agency indicates that about 5% of hospital admissions are due to Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs). Several factors are recognized to be associated with an increased risk for ADRs, such as the female gender and polytherapy. The aim of this study was to retrospectively analyze the suspected ADRs reported by patients during the anamnestic interview at the Allergy Unit. Patients and Methods: ALLERG-RAF study is a retrospective analysis of the medical records of patients evaluated in the Allergy Unit of ASST Spedali Civili and University of Brescia from 2000 to 2016. The inclusion criteria were age >18 years and medical consultation requested for suspected ADRs. Data relating to the patient's intrinsic characteristics, the drug supposed to be the cause and the prescribed pharmacological therapy were collected. Pseudonymized data from each patient were collected in an informatics database. Results. From 2000 to 2016, 35817 accesses to the Allergy Unit were made and 2171 unique events related to a suspected ADR were collected in 1840 patients. More than two thirds of the reports concerned females (70.4%). Antibiotics were involved in the majority of the self-reported suspected ADRs (48.7%), particularly beta-lactams (61.1%). Anti-inflammatory drugs, mainly NSAIDs, were second in incidence and suspected in 25.2% of reports. As a site of ADR manifestation, most of the reported reactions involve the skin. No clinical sequelae were reported. Conclusions: Our results underline the importance of patient reporting in Pharmacovigilance. Furthermore, gender gap data emphasizes the importance of the gender-specific medicine approach.