Demographic, medical, economic, and psychological consequences of iatrogenic diseases and conditions, and current challenges in their prevention

This article examines the demographic, medical, economic and psychological consequences of iatrogenic diseases and conditions, and discusses current problems in their prevention. A descriptive and analytical review of international publications and World Health Organization (WHO) documents was carried out. According to WHO, as many as one in ten hospitalised patients in high-income countries experience harm, while in hospitals of low- and middle-income countries about 134 million adverse events occur annually, contributing to about 2.6 million deaths; such events also cause substantial economic losses. Health professionals involved in such events may develop psychological sequelae described as the "second victim" phenomenon. Key prevention directions include medication safety, incident reporting and learning systems, workforce training, patient engagement and a just safety culture.