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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Apr 30.
Published in final edited form as: JAMA. 2016 Nov 22;316(20):2115–2125. doi: 10.1001/jama.2016.16201

Table 4.

US Emergency Department (ED) Visits for Adverse Drug Events (ADEs) From Commonly Implicated Drug Classes by Patient Age, 2013-2014a

ED Visits for ADEs
Patient Age ≤5 yb
 Patient Age 6-19 yb
 Patient Age 20-34 y
 Patient Age 35-49 y
 Patient Age 50-64 y
 Patient Age 65-79 y
 Patient Age ≥80 y
Drug Class No. of
Cases
(n = 2741)		 National
Estimate, %
(95% CI)c 		No. of
Cases
(n = 3240)		 National
Estimate, %
(95% CI)c 		No. of
Cases
(n = 5638)		 National
Estimate, %
(95% CI)c 		No. of
Cases
(n = 5928)		 National
Estimate, %
(95% CI)c 		No. of
Cases
(n = 8797)		 National
Estimate, %
(95% CI)c 		No. of
Cases
(n = 8266)		 National
Estimate, %
(95% CI)c 		No. of
Cases
(n = 5370)		 National
Estimate, %
(95% CI)c
Antibiotics 1460 56.4
(51.8-61.0)		 870 31.8
(28.7-34.9)		 1257 24.2
(21.5-26.9)		 873 16.2
(14.1-18.2)		 832 11.1
(9.8-12.4)		 447 6.3
(5.3-7.3)		 242 5.8
(4.5-7.0)
Anticoagulants 6 NA 13 NA 133 2.1
(1.6-2.6)		 454 7.2
(5.2-9.2)		 1240 13.7
(11.1-16.4)		 2233 27.5
(23.3-31.7)		 2206 38.8
(33.7-43.8)
Antidepressants 6 NA 107 3.8
(2.5-5.1)		 184 3.5
(2.6-4.3)		 157 2.7
(2.0-3.5)		 126 1.7
(1.2-2.1)		 55 0.8
(0.6-1.0)		 24 0.7
(0.1-1.3)d
Antineoplastic agents 283 2.8
(0-6.0)d 		330 2.7
(0-5.8)d 		106 1.3
(0.5-2.1)d 		196 2.3
(1.1-3.6)		 546 5.2
(3.1-7.4)		 384 3.6
(2.0-5.2)		 92 1.4
(0.7-2.1)
Antiplatelets 1 NA 16 NA 37 0.5
(0.3-0.7)		 68 1.3
(0.7-1.9)		 359 4.3
(3.1-5.5)		 657 8.0
(5.7-10.4)		 615 10.6
(8.3-12.9)
Antipsychotics 7 NA 137 4.5
(3.3-5.6)		 340 5.2
(3.9-6.5)		 228 3.1
(2.2-4.0)		 176 1.9
(1.4-2.4)		 41 0.5
(0.3-0.6)		 13 NA
Diabetes agents 10 NA 100 2.8
(1.8-3.8)		 499 7.3
(5.3-9.2)		 891 14.2
(11.3-17.2)		 1786 18.2
(14.8-21.7)		 1722 18.6
(14.9-22.4)		 839 15.2
(11.4-19.0)
Dietary supplementse 46 1.8
(0.8-2.8)		 55 2.0
(1.3-2.6)		 201 3.7
(3.0-4.4)		 174 2.9
(2.5-3.4)		 125 1.4
(1.0-1.7)		 72 1.0
(0.7-1.3)		 38 1.0
(0.6-1.3)
Non-opioid-containing analgesics 36 1.6
(0.9-2.4)		 49 1.7
(0.9-2.5)		 88 1.6
(1.1-2.0)		 68 1.1
(0.7-1.5)		 31 0.3
(0.1-0.5)d 		11 NA 5 NA
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs 52 2.8
(1.7-3.9)		 117 3.9
(2.8-5.0)		 225 4.0
(3.2-4.8)		 166 3.2
(2.6-3.7)		 132 1.5
(1.2-1.8)		 69 0.8
(0.5-1.0)		 18 NA
Opioid analgesics 20 0.6
(0.1-1.0)d 		93 3.0
(2.2-3.8)		 422 7.8
(6.8-8.8)		 382 6.8
(5.7-7.9)		 536 6.9
(5.9-8.0)		 354 4.6
(3.9-5.4)		 151 3.5
(2.6-4.5)
Sedative or hypnotic agents 11 NA 55 2.0
(1.1-2.9)		 128 2.3
(1.4-3.1)		 160 2.8
(1.8-3.7)		 145 1.6
(1.2-2.1)		 106 1.4
(0.9-1.9)		 53 0.9
(0.5-1.3)
Stimulants 13 NA 116 3.8
(2.8-4.7)		 50 0.9
(0.5-1.3)		 18 NA 5 NA 4 NA 1 NA
Vaccines 455 19.5
(16.2-22.8)		 111 3.7
(2.8-4.6)		 89 1.8
(1.3-2.4)		 89 1.6
(1.0-2.1)		 81 1.1
(0.8-1.3)		 64 0.8
(0.5-1.1)		 16 NA
All other drug classesf 284 10.5
(8.2-12.7)		 860 26.8
(24.6-29.1)		 1454 26.3
(24.3-28.3)		 1522 26.3
(24.6-28.0)		 1986 23.2
(21.0-25.4)		 1328 16.9
(14.5-19.3)		 548 11.6
(9.0-14.1)
>1 Drug class implicated 51 1.7
(0.9-2.5)		 211 6.9
(5.7-8.1)		 425 7.5
(6.3-8.8)		 482 7.9
(7.0-8.8)		 691 7.8
(6.6-8.9)		 719 8.8
(7.1-10.6)		 509 9.5
(6.8-12.2)

Abbreviation: NA, estimates based on fewer than 20 cases are considered statistically unreliable and are not shown.

a

Data are based on 42 585 cases from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System–Cooperative Adverse Drug Event Surveillance project, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data exclude ED visits for abuse or self-harm. Data for specific drug classes represent only ED visits in which a single drug class was implicated. Patient age missing for 1 case.

b

Excludes ED visits for unsupervised medication ingestions by children aged 10 years or younger.

c

Calculated from statistical weighting of cases based on the sample design.

d

Coefficient of variation greater than 30%.

e

In addition to related products.

f

In which a single drug class was implicated.