Dive Brief:
- A new study appearing in JAMA Psychiatry found that an estimated 267,000 patients visited an emergency department between 2009 and 2011 due to adverse drug events including overdose, excessive sleepiness and head injuries associated with the use of psychiatric prescriptions.
- The study found that 89,094 adult patients visit an ED each year because of adverse drug effects from taking sedatives, antidepressants and antipsychotics. About 19% of the visits resulted in the patient being hospitalized, researchers found.
- Frequently-used sedative zolpidem tartrate (the active ingredient in Sanofi's Ambien) was involved in 11.5% of all adult psychiatric medication ED visits and 21% of visits involving adults 65 years and older, higher than any other psychiatric medication, the study concluded.
Dive Insight:
Researchers said that the study's findings underscore the need for more careful prescribing of psychiatric drugs, and continued surveillance of outcomes associated with their use. While Ambien and its generic equivalents seem to play a surprisingly large role in psychiatric drug-related ED visits, all major classes of psychiatric drugs may be putting patients at risk, the study suggests.
The American Psychiatric Association took a step in the direction of improving site prescribing guidelines last September, when it released a list of recommendations for safe prescribing of antipsychotics. However, given the rate at which antidepressants, sedatives and anxiety drugs are leading to adverse events, further guidelines appear to be needed.