The dangers of an overdose of prescription medications made headlines around the world when the 28-year-old Australian actor, Heath Ledger, died last January.  A team of sociologists in California have just released the findings of an extensive study in which they evaluated the causes of death due to medication errors similar to the one that cost Ledger his life.  Their findings address four different situations, with one of them, death occurring at home because of an overdose of prescription medications when the patient was also consuming alcohol, street drugs, or both, rose a skyrocketing 3,196% between 1983 and 2004.

Using cause-of-death data from almost 50 million death certificates issued in the United States between 1983 and 2004, the research team isolated 200,000 deaths which were caused by medication error.  More people take medications at home today than was done during the 1980s.  Most of the studies to date on medication errors that resulted in death involve only clinical settings.

The researchers wanted to know more however about the medication deaths that happen away from healthcare settings.  They wanted answers to three questions:  how many medication-error deaths happen at home; how much, if any, alcohol and/or street drugs were involved in these deaths; and how much the number of deaths has changed over time.

Their findings for each of the four types of medication-error deaths are as follows:

- Type 1 errors are deaths that occur at home when prescription medications are consumed along with alcohol, street drugs, or both.  Between 1983 and 2004, the type 1 error death rate rose a startling 3,196%.

- Type 2 errors are deaths that occur at home but they do not involve either alcohol or street drugs.  These rose by 564%.

- Type 3 errors are deaths that occur in non-domestic settings but they also include consumption of alcohol, street drugs, or both.  These deaths rose by 555%.

Type 4 errors are deaths that occur in non-domestic settings and neither alcohol nor street drugs are involved.  These rose only 5%.

Because of the high rate of medication-related fatalities happening outside the clinical environment, David P. Phillips, a sociology professor at the University of California (UC) in San Diego and principal author of the study, expressed concern that the death rate has risen so dramatically as people are taking more medications at home than they once did.

Phillips described the very high rate of fatal medication errors occurring at home as an “increasingly important health problem” for which widespread changes are in order.  He feels changes in policy, clinical practice, and expanded study of such deaths are possible ways to prevent so many fatalities.

Most of the previous studies have involved elderly people in medical facilities.  The findings of the UC study suggest the need for more research involving patients middle age and younger and in domestic settings instead of clinical settings.

The Marian E. Smith Foundation awarded a grant to help fund the UC study, which has been published in the July 28 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the journals published by the American Medical Association.

Source: University of California – San Diego