Prevalence and characteristics of adverse drug events in Brazil

The drugs are among the main causes of adverse events, affecting directly the safety of the patient. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the prevalence of adverse events reported by drug users in Brazil and its determinants. This is a cross-sectional, population-based, carried out from September 2013 to February 2014, with data collected in the National Survey on Access, Use and Promotion of Rational Use of Drugs. All the people who reported using at least one medication and who have reported at least one problem with their use were considered to have suffered an acute MI. The independent variables were the demographic, socioeconomic, self-perceived health status, number of used medicines and self-medication. We conducted a descriptive analysis to estimate the prevalence and confidence intervals at 95% (95%) of EAM between the studied variables and ratios were calculated crude and adjusted prevalence (Poisson regression) and their respective 95% in the investigation of factors associated with EAM. The Pearson's chi-square test was used to evaluate statistical significance (p <0.05). The prevalence of AMI in our population was 6.6% (95% CI 5.89 to 7.41%), and higher and statistically significant after the completion of the adjusted analysis, among females; residents in the Northeast and Midwest; consuming two, three or four, and five or more medications; who had self-perception of health status "bad"; and self-medicated. Drugs that act on the central nervous and cardiovascular systems; analgesics therapeutic subgroups, anti-inflammatory / antirheumatic and sex hormones / modulators of the genital system; and drugs dipyrone, levonorgestrel + ethinyl estradiol and hydrochlorothiazide were more associated with the onset of AMI. From this study it was possible to know the scale of the problem caused by the consumption of medicines in Brazil. The EAM most mentioned by respondents were mild in nature, considered preventable, and were associated with drugs commonly used by the population.Os medicamentos estão entre as principais causas de eventos adversos, afetando, diretamente, a segurança do paciente. Portanto, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo conhecer a prevalência de eventos adversos referidos por usuários de medicamentos no Brasil e seus fatores determinantes. Trata-se de um estudo transversal, de base populacional, realizado no período de setembro de 2013 a fevereiro de 2014, com dados coletados na Pesquisa Nacional sobre Acesso, Utilização e Promoção do Uso Racional de Medicamentos. Todas as pessoas que referiram o uso de pelo menos um medicamento e que tenham relatado pelo menos um problema com o seu uso foram consideradas como tendo sofrido um EAM. As variáveis independentes foram as demográficas, socioeconômicas, autopercepção do estado de saúde, número de medicamentos utilizados e automedicação. Realizou-se uma análise descritiva para estimar a prevalência e os intervalos de confiança a 95% (IC 95%) de EAM entre as variáveis estudadas e foram calculadas as razões de prevalência bruta e ajustada (regressão de Poisson) e seus respectivos IC 95% na investigação dos fatores associados aos EAM. O teste do Qui-quadrado de Pearson foi utilizado para a avaliação da significância estatística (p