Abstract
ObjectiveTo present an update on incidence and mortality from adverse effects (AEs) of medical treatment in the UK, its four countries and nine English regions between 1990 and 2013.DesignDescriptive epidemiological study on AEs of medical treatment. AEs are shown as a single cause-of-injury category from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2013 study.Data sourcesThe GBD 2013 interactive data visualisation tools ‘Epi Visualisation’ and ‘GBD Compare’.Outcome measuresThe means of incidence and mortality rates with 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). The estimates are age-standardised.ResultsIncidence rate was 175 and 176 cases per 100 000 men, 173 and 174 cases per 100 000 women in 1990 and 2013, in the UK (UI 170–180). The mortality from AEs declined from 1.33 deaths (UI 0.99–1.5) to 0.92 deaths (UI 0.75–1.2) per 100 000 individuals in the UK between 1990 and 2013 (30.8% change). Although mortality trends were descending in every region of the UK, they varied by geography and gender. Mortality rates in Scotland, North East England and West Midlands were highest. Mortality rates in South England and Northern Ireland were lowest. In 2013, age-specific mortality rates were higher in males in all 20 age groups compared with females.ConclusionsDespite gains in reducing mortality from AEs of medical treatment in the UK between 1990 and 2013, the incidence of AEs remained the same. The results of this analysis suggest revising healthcare policies and programmes aimed to reduce incidence of AEs in the UK.
Highlights
Comprehensive scans of research on harm related to adverse effects (AEs) arising from medical treatment in the UK show that knowledge on occurrence of AEs in the UK is based on the reviews of randomly drawn medical and nursing records from selected acute-care hospitals in UK at fixed time points [1, 2]
In this article built on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2013 study, we show the incidence and mortality of AEs resulting from medical treatment in the UK, its four constituent countries and nine regions of England [10] over a period of 24 years, 1990–2013
Estimates of incident cases with 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) from AEs arising from medical treatment in the UK in 1990 and 2013 is presented in Lunevicius and Haagsma
Summary
Comprehensive scans of research on harm related to adverse effects (AEs) arising from medical treatment in the UK show that knowledge on occurrence of AEs in the UK is based on the reviews of randomly drawn medical and nursing records from selected acute-care hospitals in UK at fixed time points [1, 2]. Little is known about the levels, trends, and patterns in incidence and mortality rates from hospital setting AEs in the UK and its regions over time. Its interactive data visualisation system is a publicly available platform to retrieve, interpret and compare the standardised epidemiological estimates for AEs from medical treatment at the population level of individual countries and their regions by age, gender, geography and year [8, 9]
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