Side effects to medication (also known as adverse drug reactions -ADR) influence whether patients take their treatment, can worsen symptoms, reduce quality of life and lead to serious consequences for physical health. For doctors and patients, correctly identifying and responding to side effects is essential to obtaining the best outcomes for patients. However, little research explores the overall picture of side effects and their impacts in UK primary care.
This project uses existing, routinely collected data on UK primary care consultations from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). We will select patients who are recorded as reporting an side effect to medication in a GP appointment. We will compare these patients to other primary care attenders to see whether they have more primary care appointments and reduced medication use. This will provide us with a ‘snapshot’ of the number of GP appointments where side effects are discussed and what then happens. This study will provide information that can be used to inform guidance and support for GPs and patients managing side effects.
Aim: To estimate the impact of ADRs in UK general practice.
Objectives:
To evaluate whether these consultations are associated with increased rates of subsequent appointments, hospitalization and medication discontinuation compared to other attenders without ADRs .
Method: We will identify the ADR cohort where ADR-related codes have been recorded for a consultation in 2014. We will match each member of the ADR cohort to comparators (1:2) of the same age, gender and utilizing the same GP practice, who have a consultation at the same time without an ADR-related code. We will compare available data on the ADR cohort to the comparator cohort over a year following their ADR related appointment on number of subsequent any GP appointments, any hospitalization, and changes in prescription. We will then repeat these analyses five times for the five most frequently dispensed drug users in 2014 and in each analysis, both the ADR and comparator cohorts will come from the same drug users.
Sarah Chapman - Chief Investigator - University of Bath
Sarah Chapman - Corresponding Applicant - University of Bath
Li Wei - Collaborator - University College London ( UCL )
HES Admitted Patient Care