Background:

Medication related adverse events are an important cause of hospital admission or prolonged stay.

Aim:

To assess medication related adverse events in a hospital discharge database.

Material and Methods:

Revision of the Chilean hospital discharge database from 2010 to 2017 searching for ICD- 10 diagnostic codes corresponding to medication related adverse events.

Results:

The number of medication related adverse events was stable across the studied time lapse, but admission length increased. Between 34 and 111 people died every year due to medication related adverse events. Lactating babies, toddlers, adolescents and people over 80 years of age are at greater risk of experiencing these events.

Conclusions:

Medication related adverse events are more common than expected.