title: Epidemiology of Adverse Events and Medical Errors in the Care of Cardiology Patients.
abstract: There have been epidemiological studies of adverse events (AEs) among general patients but those of patients cared by cardiologist are not well scrutinized. We investigated the occurrence of AEs and medical errors (MEs) among adult patients with cardiology in Japan.
  
  
  
  We conducted a cross-sectional study of adult outpatients at a Japanese teaching hospital from February through November 2006. We measured AE and ME incidents from patient report, which were verified by medical records, laboratory data, incident reports, and prescription queries. Two independent physicians reviewed the incidents to determine whether they were AEs or MEs and to assess severity and symptoms.
  
  
  
  We identified 144 AEs and 30 MEs (16.3 and 3.9 per 100 patients, respectively). Of the 144 AEs, 99 were solely adverse drug events (ADEs), 20 were solely non-ADEs, and the remaining 25 were both causes. The most frequent symptoms of ADEs were skin and allergic reactions due to medication. The most frequent symptoms of non-ADEs were bleeding due to therapeutic interventions. Among AEs, 12% was life threatening. Life-threatening AEs were 25% of non-ADEs and 5% of ADEs (P = 0.0003). Among the 30 MEs, 21MEs (70%) were associated with drugs.
  
  
  
  Adverse events were common among cardiology patients. Adverse drug events were the most frequent AEs, and non-ADEs were more critical than ADEs. Such data should be recognized among practicing physicians to improve the patients' outcomes.
authors.affiliation: From the Division of General Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohta
authors.affiliation: National Cancer Hospital East, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Izumi
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Miki
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, National Hospital Organization Kyoto Medical Center, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Mitsuru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Mio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sakuma
authors.affiliation: Department of Primary Care and Emergency Medicine, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koike
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morimoto
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002309:Cardiology / Q000592:standards*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000639:trends*