>> IAN: Important to note: the study seems only to have
>> included drugs prescribed to hospitalized patients,
>> yet I would expect that most prescription drugs are
>> prescribed to patients NOT hospitalized. If 5% of
>> hospitalized patients prescribed a drug will die
>> from that drug, and if hospital prescriptions
>> account for (just a guess) 20% of all prescriptions,
>> then there could be upwards of 500,000 people dying
>> every year from prescription drugs (just a guestimate)!
>I doubt the number would extrapolate that simply;
>patients in a hospital are statistically more ill than
>those not hospitalized, so are more likely to die from
>an ADR (because they were closer to death already).
IAN: Very true, they are also assuredly given
more and stronger drugs... however, consider
that other factors come into play regarding
prescription drug use outside the hospital
(which could be defined as "prescription use
not under direct supervision") such as a greater
rate of drug abuse and misuse (many overdoses are
accidental, usually old people who forget they just
took their dose...), multiple prescriptions given to
the same patient from different doctors that cause
deadly interactions, accidents caused by people
under the influence of "dizzy making" Rx drugs.
Factor in all such and that number might hold.
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