Medication overdose data analysis: a review of medication error reports in the FDA adverse event reporting system (FAERS)

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of drug overdose events collected from the FAERS database

Characteristics	Number of reports (N = 170,424)	Percentage (%)
Age group
Newborn (0 to 28 d)	127	0.07
Infant (29 d to 3 y)	1,878	1.10
Child (3 to 12 y)	2,338	1.37
Teenager (12 to 18 y)	10,076	5.91
Adult (18 to 60 y)	50,929	29.88
Elderly (over 60 y)	24,961	14.65
Unknown	80,115	47.01
Gender
Male	67,548	39.64
Female	79,438	46.61
Unknown	23,438	13.75
Route of administration
Oral	84,666	49.68
Transdermal	13,753	8.07
Intravenous	5,472	3.21
Subcutaneous	4,766	2.80
Through respiratory tract	2,870	1.68
Intramuscular	1,301	0.76
Others	1,868	1.10
Unknown	55,728	32.70
Dosage form
Tablet
Conventional tablet	32,636	19.15
Sustained/controlled release tablet	33,232	19.50
Coated tablet	5,042	2.96
Dispersible tablet	525	0.31
Chewable tablet	283	0.17
Enteric-coated tablet	138	0.08
Other tablets	131	0.08
Injection	14,361	8.43
Gel	10,131	5.94
Capsule	8,110	4.76
Inhaler	5,041	2.96
External dosage form
Transdermal patch	2,215	1.30
Paint	1,435	0.84
Drop	512	0.30
Other external dosage forms	242	0.14
Others	3,121	1.83
Unknown	53,269	31.26

ISSN: 2050-6511