| RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS |


[RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS]


A national pharmacogenomics testing program could help reduce the thousands of extra days Singaporeans stay in hospital each year due to adverse reactions to medication.


Pharmacogenomics:


AVOIDING ADVERSE REACTIONS TO MEDICATION


SINGAPOREANS SPEND 48,000 EXTRA DAYS A YEAR IN HOSPITAL DUE TO ADVERSE DRUG REACTIONS


About one in every ten patients is admitted to Singapore’s biggest acute-care hospital due to adverse reactions to medication, according to a study led by a team of researchers at A*STAR and Singapore General Hospital. The team investigated the prevalence


of serious medication side-effects among 1,000 patients admitted to Singapore General Hospital. They found a much higher incidence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) than the 3 to 9 per cent reported by other researchers in previous studies.


20 A*STAR RESEARCH “The headline finding was that about


12 per cent of patients admitted to hospital had a severe side-effect to a medication — this included 8 per cent where ADRs were the main cause of admission,” says Liam Brunham from the A*STAR Translational Laboratory in Genetic Medicine and the National University of Singapore, one of the authors of the study. The most common culprits for ADRs in


the study were cardiovascular drugs, anti-co- agulants, anti-platelets and chemotherapeutic drugs. Reactions included gastrointestinal


symptoms, such as diarrhea; electrolyte abnormalities that can cause a life-threatening abnormal heart rhythm; and bleeding. On average, the patients with ADRs were in


hospital for four days, compared to a three-day stay for other patients. Eleven of these patients were admitted to high care, some of whom were left permanently disabled or dead. Two of the deaths were attributed to the drug reactions. “If we extrapolate our finding to the


entire country of Singapore, this amounts to an extra 48,000 days in hospitals each year


ISSUE 5 | OCTOBER – DECEMBER 2016


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