Abstract:

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are an unintended responses which occur at doses normally used in humans for prophylaxis, diagnosis, therapy of the disease or for the modification on physiological function. ADRs are an important health issue and are reported to be among the causes for hospital admissions in elderly patients (3). Elderly persons, 65 years and above experience an increased disease burden and a corresponding increase in medication use with an associated increase in ADRs (1).

Methods: The study was a retrospective based study to determine the contribution of adverse drug reactions causing hospitalization among elderly patients at Bugando medical centre data was collected from June to July and included 138 patient’s files from medical records.

Results: Among of 138 files obtained from medical records departments, showed that the patients could be categorized in three age groups; 65-75 years (24%), 76-86 years (28%), 87-97 years (48%). The mean age was 73.2 years. Majority of participants were males 89 (64.5%), magnitude of ADRs was 44.9% in three years among the elderly patients.

Conclusion and recommendations: It is clear that patients older than 65 years are at significant risk of hospital admissions due to ADRs and many ADRs occurring in this population are considered preventable. There is a need for greater understanding of the population of ADRs in these patients, and how these predictors are interrelated.