In ten years, the number of hospitalizations linked to the side effects of drugs has increased by 47% in France.
- In 2018, 8.5% of short hospital stays were linked to an adverse drug effect.
- This rate was 3.6% in 2007.
- According to drug companies (Leem), drug consumption per capita fell by 16% between 2004 and 2019 in France.
Medications treat, but they are sometimes difficult for the body to tolerate. These are the undesirable effects: either a “harmful and unwanted reaction to a drug when used in accordance with the terms of its marketing authorization or during any other use“, specifies the Ministry of Health. These effects are considered serious when they are “fatal or potentially life-threatening, or resulting in significant or lasting disability or incapacity, or causing or prolonging hospitalization, or manifesting as a birth defect or birth defect.“According to an article by Figaro, published Monday, May 30, these serious side effects are more and more numerous. In 2018, 212,500 people hospitalized due to adverse effects, compared to 144,000 in 2007.
An increase of unknown origins
The daily relied on data from two studies: Emir, carried out in 2007, and Iatrostat, from 2018. The comparison between the results for these two periods revealed the significant increase in hospitalizations related to adverse drug reactions. But scientists do not know the causes: “this is a trend observed in other countries, but we do not have a clear explanation”specifies Pr Marie-Laure Laroche, pharmacologist at the regional pharmacovigilance center (CRPV) in Limoges, and principal investigator of the Iatrostat study, at the Figaro. For the specialist, it is not linked to the consumption of drugs, which has fallen over this period, nor to the aging of the population, because the accident rates by age group are stable, nor to certain categories of drugs. . The new drugs that have appeared on the market since 2007 do not seem to be involved: they do not “do not take a particularly important place in terms of adverse effects with regard to their prescription”she points out.
Misuse of medication?
L’latrostat study however, highlights a possible explanation: sometimes inappropriate use of treatments. In fact, the data collected indicate that 16% of the adverse effects could have been avoided thanks to better monitoring of the doses, durations and precautions for use associated with these drugs. Pr Dominique Deplanque, president of the French Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics insists on the need to follow these recommendations for the elderly: “With them, you have to be particularly attentive to the relevance of the treatment and the risks each time you add a drug to a prescription”he explains to Figaro. For some doctors, it would be necessary to go further and set up drug sobriety. Thus, Pr Rémy Boussageon, president of the scientific council of the National College of General Teachers (CNGE), the prescriptions could be limited to “five drugs per prescription“.
