ArticleBMC pediatrics2020
Serious adverse drug reactions at two children's hospitals in South Africa.
Article in BMC pediatrics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Variation of adverse drug events in different settings in Africa: a systematic review.European journal of medical research · 2024Pooled it
- The epidemiology of drug-related hospital admissions in paediatrics - a systematic review.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2024Pooled it
- Serious adverse drug reactions in sub-Saharan Africa in the era of antiretroviral treatment: A systematic review.Pharmacology research & perspectives · 2021Pooled it
- Polypharmacy and adverse drug reactions among hospitalised children: determinants and clinical and economic impact in a multicentre prospective cohort and nested matched case-control study in Northwest Ethiopia.BMJ paediatrics open · 2026Article
- Identifying risk factors for adverse drug reactions in HIV/AIDS patients using LASSO regression modeling.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Immune checkpoint inhibitor-associated myocarditis and pericarditis: a pharmacovigilance study based on the FAERS database.BMC cancer · 2025Article
- Probing the in-depth analysis of Serious Adverse Drug Reactions in a tertiary care hospital of Central India.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2025Article
- Adverse Drug Reactions to Antiretroviral Therapy: Frequency, Type, and Risk Factors in Children in Mali.The journal of pediatric pharmacology and therapeutics : JPPT : the official journal of PPAG · 2023Article
- Reporting and recording of adverse drug reactions of highly active antiretroviral therapy by HIV infected patients and healthcare professionals respectively in the Ethekwini Metropolitan of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa: a cross-sectional and retrospective comparative study.The Pan African medical journal · 2022Article
- Causality and avoidability of adverse drug reactions of antibiotics in hospitalized children: a cohort study.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2021Article
- Knowledge, attitudes and practices of health care professionals towards adverse drug reaction reporting in public sector primary health care facilities in a South African district.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2020Article
- Systems Biology Approaches for Therapeutics Development Against COVID-19.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe high HIV prevalence in South Africa may potentially be shaping the local adverse drug reaction (ADR) burden. We aimed to describe the prevalence and characteristics of serious ADRs at admission, and during admission, to two South African children's hospitals.
methodsWe reviewed the folders of children admitted over sequential 30-day periods in 2015 to the medical wards and intensive care units of each hospital. We identified potential ADRs using a trigger tool developed for this study. A multidisciplinary team assessed ADR causality, type, seriousness, and preventability through consensus discussion. We used multivariate logistic regression to explore associations with serious ADRs.
resultsAmong 1050 patients (median age 11 months, 56% male, 2.8% HIV-infected) with 1106 admissions we found 40 serious ADRs (3.8 per 100 drug-exposed admissions), including 9/40 (23%) preventable serious ADRs, and 8/40 (20%) fatal or near-fatal serious ADRs. Antibacterials, corticosteroids, psycholeptics, immunosuppressants, and antivirals were the most commonly implicated drug classes. Preterm neonates and children in middle childhood (6 to 11 years) were at increased risk of serious ADRs compared to infants (under 1 year) and term neonates: adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 5.97 (95% confidence interval 1.30 to 27.3) and aOR 3.63 (1.24 to 10.6) respectively. Other risk factors for serious ADRs were HIV infection (aOR 3.87 (1.14 to 13.2) versus HIV-negative) and increasing drug count (aOR 1.08 (1.04 to 1.12) per additional drug).
conclusionsSerious ADR prevalence in our survey was similar to the prevalence found elsewhere. In our setting, serious ADRs were associated with HIV-infection and the antiviral drug class was one of the most commonly implicated. Similar to other sub-Saharan African studies, a large proportion of serious ADRs were fatal or near-fatal. Many serious ADRs were preventable.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.