Group 3 studies
Three high-quality adult studies, two from South
Africa37,46 and one from
Ethiopia49,50, reported the proportion of in-hospital
deaths to which ADRs contributed (Table 5). All three studies were
conducted among adults in secondary / tertiary hospitals, with
one46 also including patients in the intensive care
unit. In two studies46,49,50 the proportion of deaths
attributed to ADRs was the primary outcome measure, while the
third37 mentioned the proportion of deaths attributed
to ADRs as an additional outcome. The Ethiopian
survey49,50 only considered deaths from ADRs already
present at time of admission, and not deaths from ADRs that developed
during the hospital stay, and thus may have underestimated the deaths
attributable to ADRs.