YIKES Septic Shock Deaths Increased with Hospital Drug Shortage Study finds strong association between norepinephrine shortage and deaths

Deaths from septic shock in U.S. hospitals increased during a 2011 shortage of norepinephrine, the front-line vasopressor drug used to treat the condition, researchers report. Septic shock deaths during that norepinephrine shortage period increased from 35.9% to 39.6% in a retrospective analysis of a nationally representative sample of hospitals. Further analysis showed a strong and consistent association between periods when the drug was in short supply and increased mortality, Hannah Wunsch, MD, of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, in Toronto, Canada, and colleagues, wrote online in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In an accompanying editorial, Julie Donohue, PhD, and Derek Angus, MD, of the University of Pittsburgh, noted that shortages of FDA-regulated generic drugs became a regular occurrence in U.S. hospitals starting around 2000: "The most challenging year so far was 2011, with 251 drug shortages, of which 73% were generic sterile injectable drugs, including many medications required to treat sepsis, cancer, and other life-threatening conditions." https://www.medpagetoday.com/CriticalCare/Sepsis/64053?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2017-03-23&eun=g721819d0r&pos=1