Twenty percent of hospitalized patients that received antibiotics experienced at least one antibiotic-associated adverse drug event in a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Researchers examined medical records of 1,488 patients at Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Hospital who received antibiotic therapy for at least 24 hours. Of those patients, 298 (20 percent) suffered an adverse drug event related to the antibiotic. Further, 20 percent of the adverse drug events were attributed to antibiotics "prescribed for conditions for which antibiotics were not indicated," according to the study.
The most common adverse drug events were:
- Gastrointestinal abnormalities
- Renal abnormalities
- Hematologic abnormalities
Seven of the patients suffered Clostridium difficile infections.
"Our findings … lend further credence to the importance of antibiotic stewardship to optimize patient safety," the study concludes.