[Severe drug complications: current prevalence amongst patients admitted to adult intensive care units (author's transl)].

A retrospective study involving nine teaching hospital mixed intensive units provided information concerning severe drug complications amongst patients admitted to these departments over the past ten years. Amongst a total of 63717 patients admitted, there were 1132 drug complications (1.8%) without any predominance in terms of sex. Mortality was high (252 patients, i.e. 22.2%), being all the greater in older patients. Details concerning the various drug complications are given, the most common being anaphylactic shock and haemorrhage due to anticoagulants. These statistics are compared withthose already published by hospital departments of internal medicine.