Analysis of the digital preference for age in the pharmacovigilance system in Brazil, 2008-2013

Abstract

The scope of this article is to analyze the digital preference for the "age" variable in the database of cases of adverse drug events reported between 2008 and 2013 in the pharmacovigilance system in Brazil. The database was analyzed in three stages: 1) Initial exploration; 2) standardization of variables; and 3) duplicate records management. The digital preference for the "age" variable according to sex and grouped regions of the country, was determined using the Whipple and Myers methods and also measured by the adhesion test based on statistical χ2 at 5% significance level. The female population was predominant (60.3%), with a female/male ratio of 1.5:1 and a female majority in 8 of the 12 age groups. Throughout the period under analysis, no preference for a terminal digit was observed in the "age” variable. The ages that were registered in the database appear not to reveal any imprecision and, therefore, this information cannot be interpreted as unreliable. These results point to a good performance in collecting data and information related to the “age” variable of the Brazil's pharmacovigilance system.