Worldwide, around one in 13 admissions to a hospital's internal medicine department is caused by adverse drug events (ADEs). These can be due to interactions and side effects caused by taking different medications at the same time, an unsuitable dosage of medication or because restrictions on use were not observed. This can have serious consequences for those affected, such as bleeding in the digestive tract or heart failure.

The aim of the TARGET-ADE project team is to identify patients with an increased risk of serious UAE at an early stage in order to provide them with appropriate care and prevent hospital admissions. Initially, experts from clinical pharmacology and pharmacy will identify characteristics that indicate deficiencies in the medication process with UAE risks and that are visible in existing health insurance billing data. The next step is to develop tools that predict the risk of a UAE and hospitalization in patients. This will be done using statistical methods including artificial intelligence.

In parallel, concepts are being developed on how such instruments can be used in standard care. In order to increase the suitability of the concepts for everyday use, interviews and workshops will be conducted with those involved, i.e. patients, specialists in general medicine, internal medicine, emergency medicine and geriatrics, pharmacists and experts from health insurance companies. Based on this information, the project team will develop a strategy to prevent UAEs and test its feasibility in a scientifically sound study under everyday conditions of outpatient care.

The project will be funded for three years with a total of around 1.7 million euros.

If successful, practical instruments will be available to potentially prevent adverse drug events and their consequences.

Consortium partners

Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Techniker Krankenkasse, University of Bielefeld