Objective: To examine drug-related deaths due to adverse drug reactions between 1984 and 1994.
Data source: Voluntary reports of deaths due to adverse events as reported to the Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Program, Drugs Directorate, Health Protection Branch, Health Canada.
Methods: Drugs were classified according to the Anatomical, Therapeutic, Chemical (ATC) coding system. Descriptive statistics were utilized.
Results: One thousand four hundred and seventeen drug-related deaths were reported (700 male, 685 female, 32 unknown). The mean+/-SD age of patients was 54.6+/-21.7 years (range 1 month-97 years). In total, 2131 medications were implicated as suspect drugs (1.5+/-1.0, range 1-7). The most commonly reported categories of suspect drugs were the nervous system agents (50.6%), followed by cardiovascular system agents (9.0%), general antiinfectives for systemic use (8.8%) and musculoskeletal system agents (8.3%). One thousand and eighty-six deaths were classified as non-suicides. For non-suicide deaths, the most commonly reported suspect drugs were classified as nervous system agents (37.9%), followed by general antiinfectives for systemic use (12.3%), musculoskeletal system (11.5%) and cardiovascular system agents (10.2%). Three hundred and thirty-one (23.3%) reports were identified as suicides. For suicides, the most commonly reported suspect drugs were the nervous system agents (81.1%), followed by the respiratory system agents (8.5%) and the cardiovascular system agents (6.0%).
Conclusion: Nervous system agents, musculoskeletal medications and general antiinfectives for systemic use figured prominently in deaths reported to HPB between 1984 and 1994.