OBJECTIVES : To assess the risk factors of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) observed in patients admitted to the general surgery wards.

METHODS

A hospital based prospective observational study was conducted among 180 inpatients in the department of general surgery for a period of six months. Patients aged above 18 years and who were operated under at least one anesthetic drug were included in the study. Risk factors of ADRs were identified using binomial and multinomial logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 180 patients were recruited in the study out of which 149 (83%) patients were presented with at least one ADR and a total of 296 ADRs were observed. General anesthetics (45.4%) contributed to the highest number of ADRs followed by local anesthetics (26.7%). Risk estimates revealed that there is a significant association between smoking (Odds ratio [OR] = 8.60, 95% CI 1.31-22.56, p=0.03), ASA (American society of anesthesiologists) physical status ≥ 3 (OR=2.386, 95% CI 1.799-3.401, p=0.005), amputation surgery (OR=3.058, 95% CI 1.63-5.34, p=0.011), cancer related surgeries (OR=2.303, 95% CI 1.011-4.594, p=0.049) and occurrence of ADRs.

CONCLUSIONS : This study has identified smoking, ASA grade≥3, amputation and cancer related surgeries as early predictors for the development of ADRs during perioperative period. The independent risk factors identified lay a great emphasis on the need of individualized drug therapy which will significantly improve the therapeutic outcomes and reduce the economic burden on patients