Retrospective analysis of adverse drug reactions reported at ADR monitoring centre under PvPI in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in hospitals and pose great economic burden on the health care system. This study was conducted with the aim of creating awareness and developing a culture for proper communication and reporting of ADRs among health care professionals.Methods: This study is a retrospective analysis of total 60 reported ADRs from AMC at a tertiary care hospital during a period of 14 months from March 2015 to April 2016. These ADRs were analysed for the pattern and type of reactions, body systems involved, causative drugs, and severity of reaction, their outcome, management and causality assessment.Results: Patients in the age groups of 41-50 years were most commonly involved with slight male preponderance. Skin reactions like rashes and itching were the most commonly observed ADR. The most common causative drugs for ADR were antimicrobial agents; IV route was the most common route responsible. Majority of ADRs belonged to type B, were non serious and moderate in severity. Most of the patients recovered. On causality assessment scale, most of the ADRs were found to be probable with the causative drugs.Conclusions: Most of the ADRs were treatable by early and appropriate management. The major limitation was under-reporting of ADRs which can be overcome by creating awareness and enhancing the culture of ADR monitoring and reporting among health care professionals for safe use of drugs.

Prevalence of rheumatic heart disease in school-going children of Eastern Uttar Pradesh.

BACKGROUND: Rheumatic heart disease is a major health problem in our country. There is evidence from South India that its prevalence is declining. This study attempts to confirm whether this is so in North India as well. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 118,212 (68,357 males, 49,855 females) schoolchildren in the age group of 4-18 years were examined for the presence of heart disease. Evaluation, including echocardiography, confirmed that of a total of 389 suspected to have heart disease, 61 had rheumatic heart disease. Thus, the prevalence of rheumatic heart disease was found to be approximately 0.5 per 1000 children. CONCLUSION: In a fairly large school survey conducted by us, the prevalence of rheumatic heart disease turned out to be approximately 0.5 per 1000 children. This is the lowest figure reported from our country so far and confirms the decline of this disease in our country.

Evaluation of the efficacy, safety and tolerability of intravenous enalaprilat in the treatment of grade III essential hypertension in Indian patients.

Hypertensive emergency is a common problem requiring an effective, safe and easily administrable agent to reduce the blood pressure. Favorable data on injectable enalaprilat have been reported from the West but no Indian study has been done in such settings. We studied 10 patients (5 male, 5 female), with mean age 47+/-0.6 years and mean blood pressure 196+/-18.95/119.4+/-19.53 mmHg, who were given 1.25 mg intravenous enalaprilat. Reduction in their blood pressure started at 5 min with peak reduction noted at 4 hours (155.25+/-29.54/93.5+/-13.55 mmHg). No adverse symptoms or biochemical changes were noted. Thus, we conclude that intravenous enalaprilat is an effective, safe and well tolerated agent for managing severe hypertension in patients requiring an emergency reduction in blood pressure.