Criteria for considering studies for this review
We reviewed observational studies from SSA, published since 2002, which
reported any of the following proportions:
- the proportion of hospital admissions attributable to ADRs,
- the proportion of hospital admissions prolonged by ADRs, or
- the proportion of in-hospital deaths attributable to ADRs.
Prospective or retrospective cohort studies, cross-sectional studies, as
well as data collected in the baseline survey / control arm of trials
were eligible for inclusion. Forty-eight countries, listed in the
supplement, were defined as SSA countries in accordance with the World
Bank’s use of the term. We used original study authors’ definitions of
“ADR”, “hospital”, and “admission”, but we specifically did not
consider attendance at an emergency unit to be a hospital admission. We
only included studies conducted in unselected hospital populations. No
restrictions were applied in terms of publication language or type; we
included studies available as abstracts only. No restrictions were
applied in terms of study population age groups.