ANALYSIS OF ADVERSE DRUG REACTIONS IN PEDIATRIC POPULATION: A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY

Abstract

Paediatrics is group of population in whom a wide range of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic variations of the drug occurs because of diverse stages of development. Owing to this there are greater chances for the occurrence of adverse drug reactions in comparison to adults. The aim of this study is to assess, categorize and analyse the adverse drug reactions among the paediatric population. We performed a retrospective analytical study on the adverse drug reactions in paediatric patients reported by health care professionals to adverse drug reaction monitoring centre of Sri Venkateswara Medical College, Tirupati for a period of 12 months. The percentage of adverse drug reactions in total was found to be major among the male paediatric population (56%). Among the total adverse drug reactions, antibiotics (57.3%) were found to be the most common group of drugs associated with adverse drug reactions. Among antibiotics, majority of adverse drug reactions were due to cephalosporins (61.81%). As per World Health Organization causality assessment scale, majority of adverse drug reactions were found to be probable (74%). Majority of the adverse drug reactions under serious criteria of the reaction required intervention to prevent permanent impairment/damage (61.1%).