STUDY OF THE IATROGENIC PATHOLOGY IN A DE PARTMENT OF INTERNAL-MEDICINE

Basis. It's obvious that the current medicine practice generates iatro genia. Howerer, we are unaware about its magnitude and severity, speci ally in Spain, where this item has been scarcely studied. Methods. All the patients admitted to the Departament of Internal Medicine were pr ospectively studied during a 13 months period, selecting among the pat ients those fulfilling criteria for an iatrogenic problem both of phar macological origin and not pharmacological. The kind of iatrogenia, it s severity, related mortality, gravity of the basic illness, afected o rgan and avoidability of the iatrogenia were evaluated. Infusion phleb itis were recorded only during 6 months. Results. Iatrogenic pathology was found in 228 cases over 1.549 patients admissions, accounting for 14.7% of incidence. Iatrogenic pathology was the reason for admission in 65 cases. The average stay was significantly increased in patients with iatrogenic pathology (p<0.01). Adverse reactions to drugs accoun ted for 62% of the total account with 141 cases. The non-steroids anti inflammatory (NSA) drugs were the most frequently troublesome farmacol ogical agents. The GI tract was the more afected system (84 cases). In fusion phlebitis are not included in the total account of cases. Concl usions. a) iatrogenic pathology is an illness of very high incidence i n our surroundings; b) NSA is a group of drugs generating frequently a dverse reactions in off-hospitalenvironment; c) GI hemorrhage is an ia trogenic illness accounting for high percentage of cases; d) many of t he iatrogenic events can be catalogued as avoidables and with more acc urate attention to some factors the more of them could be prevented.