Patients with septic shock in hospitals affected by drug shortage had increased rate of in-hospital death
TUESDAY, March 21, 2017 (HealthDay News) — For patients with septic shock in U.S. hospitals affected by a 2011 norepinephrine shortage, the rate of in-hospital mortality was increased, according to a study published online March 21 in the Journal of the American Medical Association to coincide with the annual International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, held from March 21 to 24 in Brussels.
In a retrospective cohort study, Emily Vail, M.D., from Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues examined changes to patient care and outcomes associated with a 2011 national shortage of norepinephrine. Data were included for 27,835 adults with septic shock admitted to 26 U.S. study hospitals between July 1, 2008, and June 30, 2013.
The researchers observed a decrease in norepinephrine use in the hospitals that demonstrated at least one quarter of norepinephrine shortage in 2011, from 77.0 percent of patients before the shortage to a low of 55.7 percent in the second quarter of 2011; during this time, the most frequently used alternative vasopressor was phenylephrine (baseline, 36.2 percent; maximum, 54.4 percent). During quarters of shortage, hospital admission correlated with an increased rate of in-hospital mortality compared with hospital admission with septic shock during quarters of normal use (39.6 versus 35.9 percent, respectively; adjusted odds ratio, 1.15).
“Among patients with septic shock in U.S. hospitals affected by the 2011 norepinephrine shortage, the most commonly administered alternative vasopressor was phenylephrine,” the authors write.
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