Table 4 Association of adverse drug event (ADE) from a medication discrepancy with three prescribing indices: number of medications prescribed prior to transfer, number of medication discrepancies that occurred after transfer and number of high-risk medication discrepancies that occurred after transfer
IndexPretransfer medicationsMedication discrepanciesHigh-risk discrepancies
Quartile of indexRange in quartilePercentage in quartile with ADERange in quartilePercentage in quartile with ADERange in quartilePercentage in quartile with ADE
10 to 315014013
24 to 513117122
36 to 7272 to 319224
4⩾824⩾432⩾347
Unadjusted odds ratio (95% CI); c statistic*1.08 (0.98 to 1.19); 0.5781.19 (1.05 to 1.36); 0.6001.65 (1.26 to 2.16); 0.621
Adjusted† odds ratio (95% CI); c statistic*1.07 (0.97 to 1.19); 0.6371.20 (1.02 to 1.41); 0.6661.71 (1.28 to 2.28); 0.691

  • *The odds ratio indicates the additional risk of ADE with a 1-point increase in each prescribing index; the c statistic indicates the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. †Adjusted for gender, age, comorbidity score, APACHE score, off-hours admission and duration of follow-up