Renal toxicity of drugs

Abstract

Introduction: Between 2% and 5% of hospitalized patients have drug induced renal failure and up to 30% of all renal failure are due to drugs. The aim of this study was to determine the approximate incidence of drug induced nephrotoxicity in hospitalized patients in a tertiary care hospital. Methods: The study was performed between june 2008 and june 2010 at Hospital General de Agudos Dr. Cosme Argerich. All rooms were included excepting the Emergency Room. The Naranjo Score was applied to asses the causality of drugs in adverse events. All "certain" and "probables" were included. Results: We detected 209 cases of drug induced nephrotoxicity. 137 were in males (65.55% +/- 6,46%) and 72 (34.44% +/- 6.44%) in females. The average age in patients was 64.60 (CI 95%: 62.49 – 66.70 years). There were 8 hospital admissions due to nephrotoxicity. The group of drugs most frequently involved were cardviovascular drugs 49.28% (CI 95%: +/- 6.77%), antibiotics 33.01% (CI 95% +/- 6.37%), NSAIDs 6.69% (CI 95% +/-3.38%), diagnostics substances 5.74% (CI 95% +/- 3.15%), immunosuppresants 2.39% (CI 95% +/- 2.07%). Conclusion: Drug induced renal failure is a common Adverse Drug Reaction in hospitalized patients. This toxicity increases morbidity and also economics costs. Physicians should maximize controls to prevent and decrease severity of drug induced nephrotoxicity.