title: Pediatric medication error reports in Korea adverse event reporting system database, 1989-2012: comparing with adult reports.
abstract: Children have dynamic process of maturation and substantial changes in growth and development which eventually make the drug safety profiles different from adults. Medication errors (MEs) in pediatrics are reported to occur three times more likely than adults. The aims of this study were to identify the characteristics of pediatric MEs in Korea at national level and help raise awareness of risks from the MEs in pediatrics. We conducted a descriptive analysis with the pediatric ME reports in Korea Adverse Event Reporting System (KAERS) database from 1989 to 2012 and 208 ME reports in pediatrics were found. Based on KAERS database, the proportion of reported pediatric ME in adverse drug event (ADE) reports was 2.73 times (95% CI, 2.35-3.17) higher than that of adult ME. In 208 ME reports, we found a total of 236 ME-related terms within 19 types of MEs. The most common type of MEs was "accidental overdose" (n=58, 24.6%), followed by "drug maladministration" (n=50, 21.2%) and "medication error" (n=41, 17.4%). After the narratives of ME reports were reviewed, we noticed that most of them did no harm to patients, but some cases were needed for medical treatment. Our data suggest that MEs in pediatrics are not negligible in Korea. We expect that this study would increase the awareness of the problem in pediatric MEs and induce the need for further development of an effective national ME preventing system in Korea.
authors.affiliation: Korea Institute of Drug Safety & Risk Management, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Yeonju
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9028-9981
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Woo
authors.affiliation: Korea Institute of Drug Safety & Risk Management, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyung Eun
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8373-5007
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Korea Institute of Drug Safety & Risk Management, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Sooyoun
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1401-2251
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Korea Institute of Drug Safety & Risk Management, Seoul, Korea. ; Department of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Byung Joo
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4630-4942
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016907:Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems; D002648:Child; D016208:Databases, Factual; D006801:Humans; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; Korea Adverse Event Reporting System; Medication Errors; Pediatrics
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