Drug-related emergency department visits in Qatar: a prospective cohort study

Medication therapy is linked to increased risks and preventable adverse drug events (ADEs). ADEs significantly burden healthcare systems by raising hospitalization rates, emergency department (ED) visits, prolonged hospital stays, morbidity, and mortality. The main study objective was to determine the incidence, severity, and preventability of drug-related visits to the ED of two large governmental hospitals in Qatar. This prospective observational cohort study was conducted in hospital EDs using systematic random sampling to select patients. Data were collected from electronic healthcare records and patient interviews. ED visits were assessed for ADEs using predesigned and tested tools. One thousand cases were evaluated from November 2020 to January 2022. Of these, 178 (17.8%) were admitted due to ADEs, caused by 187 drug therapy problems (DTPs). The most common DTP was non-compliance with prescribed therapy (77; 41.17%). Over 50% of ADEs (98; 55.1%) were of moderate severity, and the majority (154; 86.5%) were preventable. Multivariate analysis identified female gender (OR 0.694; 95% CI 0.499–0.967) and the number of medications at admission (OR1.077; 95% CI 1.029–1.126) as independent predictors of ADE incidence. ADEs were significant contributors to ED visits in Qatar with the majority being potentially preventable. It is essential to design interventions to improve patient adherence. Further studies assessing ED visits related to specific medication classes, as well as proposing solutions to minimize specific DTPs are needed.