SynthesisPloS one2021
Prevalence of adverse drug reactions in the primary care setting: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers, 6 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
71 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 124 citations in OpenAlex.
- Adverse Drug Reaction Costs and Study Quality in Africa: A Systematic Review of Cost-of-Illness Studies.PharmacoEconomics - open · 2026Pooled it
- Implementing pharmacogenetic testing in community pharmacy practice: a scoping review.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- How intervention studies measure the effectiveness of medication safety-related clinical decision support systems in primary and long-term care: a systematic review.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2024Pooled it
- Variation of adverse drug events in different settings in Africa: a systematic review.European journal of medical research · 2024Pooled it
- Patient-Reported Questionnaires to Identify Adverse Drug Reactions: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Epidemiology of Antiretroviral Therapy Related Adverse Drug Reactions and its Predictors Among Patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus/AIDS in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS CarePooled it
- Trial
- Reducing Adverse Drug Reactions for Older People in the Community: Evaluating the Validity and Reliability of the ADRe Profile.Journal of nursing management · 2025Trial
- The INGENIOUS trial: Impact of pharmacogenetic testing on adverse events in a pragmatic clinical trial.The pharmacogenomics journal · 2023Trial
- Diuretics in Cardiovascular Disease: For How Long and at What Dose?Journal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2026Review
- Review
- Article
- AI-Based Automation for Medication Reconciliation: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Supporting medication reconciliation in primary care: a theory-informed qualitative study in Portugal.Primary health care research & development · 2026Article
- Quality of Drug Allergy Documentation in a Resource-Limited Paper-Based Hospital in Pakistan: Audit of Concordance and Completeness.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Investigating Potential Prescribing Cascades Resulting in Prochlorperazine Prescription: An Exploratory Analysis of Antihypertensives and NSAIDs.Drugs & aging · 2026Article
- Beyond black boxes: using explainable causal artificial intelligence to separate signal from noise in pharmacovigilance.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2026Article
- Characterising prescribing cascades in older community-dwelling adults attending general practice in The Netherlands: a retrospective cohort study.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Associations between chronic disease profiles and self-reported adverse drug reactions in community-dwelling older adults: A cross-sectional study.Journal of Korean gerontological nursing · 2026Article
- Medication Regimen Complexity and Patient-Reported Adverse Drug Events in Korean Community Pharmacies: A Cross-Sectional Study.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAdverse drug reactions (ADRs) represent a major cause of iatrogenic morbidity and mortality in patient care. While a substantial body of work has been undertaken to characterise ADRs in the hospital setting, the overall burden of ADRs in the primary care remains unclear.
objectivesTo investigate the prevalence of ADRs in the primary care setting and factors affecting the heterogeneity of the estimates.
methodsStudies were identified through searching of Medline, Embase, CINAHL and IPA databases. We included observational studies that reported information on the prevalence of ADRs in patients receiving primary care. Disease and treatment specific studies were excluded. Quality of the included studies were assessed using Smyth ADRs adapted scale. A random-effects model was used to calculate the pooled estimate. Potential source of heterogeneity, including age groups, ADRs definitions, ADRs detection methods, study setting, quality of the studies, and sample size, were investigated using sub-group analysis and meta-regression.
resultsThirty-three studies with a total study population of 1,568,164 individuals were included. The pooled prevalence of ADRs in the primary care setting was 8.32% (95% CI, 7.82, 8.83). The percentage of preventable ADRs ranged from 12.35-37.96%, with the pooled estimate of 22.96% (95% CI, 7.82, 38.09). Cardiovascular system drugs were the most commonly implicated medication class. Methods of ADRs detection, age group, setting, and sample size contributed significantly to the heterogeneity of the estimates.
conclusionADRs constitute a significant health problem in the primary care setting. Further research should focus on examining whether ADRs affect subsequent clinical outcomes, particularly in high-risk therapeutic areas. This information may better inform strategies to reduce the burden of ADRs in the primary care setting.
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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.