Non-health Care Facility Medication Errors Associated with Hormones and Hormone Antagonists in the United States.

Non-health Care Facility Medication Errors Associated with Hormones and Hormone Antagonists in the United States.

Magal Pranav; Spiller Henry A; Casavant Marcel J; Chounthirath Thitphalak; Hodges Nichole L; Smith Gary A

Journal of medical toxicology : official journal of the American College of Medical Toxicology

2017

2017-12

INTRODUCTION: Hormones and hormone antagonists are frequently associated with medication errors and may result in important adverse outcomes. The purpose of this study is to investigate non-health care facility (non-HCF) medication errors associated with hormones and hormone antagonists in the United States (US). METHODS: A retrospective analysis of National Poison Data System data was conducted to identify characteristics and trends of unintentional non-HCF therapeutic errors involving hormones and hormone antagonists among individuals of all ages from 2000 to 2012. RESULTS: From 2000 to 2012, US poison control centers received 169,695 calls regarding unintentional non-HCF therapeutic errors associated with hormone therapies, averaging 13,053 medication error calls annually. The rate of reported errors increased significantly by 162.6% (p \textless 0.001), from 2.24 per 100,000 US residents in 2000 to 5.89 per 100,000 in 2012. Two thirds of the errors (65.2%) occurred among females. The medications most commonly associated with errors were thyroid preparations (23.2%), corticosteroids (21.9%), and insulin (20.0%). All nine deaths and 93.2% of major effects were attributed to hypoglycemic agents. Sulfonylureas alone accounted 43.9% of major effects. The number and rate of therapeutic errors increased significantly for all medication categories except estrogen and thiazolidinediones. Most errors were managed at the site of exposure (82.9%) and did not result in serious medical outcomes (95.6%). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides an overview of non-HCF medication errors associated with hormones and hormone antagonists in the US. While most errors did not result in adverse outcomes, their increasing frequency places a greater burden on the health care system.

80 and over; Adolescent; Adult; Age Distribution; Aged; Child; Databases; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions/diagnosis/*epidemiology/mortality/therapy; Factual; Female; Hormone antagonists; Hormone Antagonists/*adverse effects; Hormones; Hormones/*adverse effects; Humans; Infant; Male; Medication Errors/*statistics & numerical data; Middle Aged; Newborn; Oral hypoglycemic medications; Poison control center; Poison Control Centers; Preschool; Retrospective Studies; Risk Factors; Sex Distribution; Time Factors; Unintentional therapeutic error; United States/epidemiology; Young Adult

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293–302

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