Declining public health burden of digoxin toxicity from 1991 to 2004
Abstract
We hypothesized that digoxin toxicity has declined in recent years, and that the decline is accompanied by reductions in overall utilization and dose. To analyze trends in digoxin toxicity and utilization from 1991 to 2004, we used surveys from the National Center for Health Statistics and Medicaid data in the United States and The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database in the United Kingdom. There was a significant decline in digoxin toxicity hospitalizations in the United States and a decline in ambulatory digoxin toxicity in the United Kingdom. The study demonstrated a reduction in the use of digoxin in the United States, but found no change in digoxin use in the United Kingdom. Finally, the number of prescriptions written for at least 250 microg decreased in the United States and the United Kingdom. The public health burden of digoxin toxicity declined dramatically from 1991 to 2004 in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Digoxin use is on the decline amid the emergence of alternative therapies with preferable safety profiles.
“digoxin use is on the decline amid the emergence of alternative therapies with preferable safety profiles (Haynes et al., 2008;Eade et al., 2013).”
From Gut reactions: Breaking down xenobiotic–microbiome interactions (2019) · cites this paper as Haynes et al., 2008
Cites
The Effect of Spironolactone on Morbidity and Mortality in Patients with Severe Heart Failure
Pitt, B., Zannad, F., Remme, W. J., Cody, R., Castaigne, A., Perez, A., Palensky, J., & Wittes, J. (1999) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejm199909023411001 · Cited by 9,214 · see citing works
Pitt, B., Remme, W., Zannad, F., Neaton, J., Martinez, F., Roniker, B., Bittman, R., Hurley, S., Kleiman, J., & Gatlin, M. (2003) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmoa030207 · Cited by 4,941 · see citing works
A comparison of rate control and rhythm control in patients with atrial fibrillation
(2002) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmoa021328 · Cited by 4,405 · see citing works
The effect of digoxin on mortality and morbidity in patients with heart failure
(1997) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejm199702203360801 · Cited by 3,016 · see citing works
Association of Serum Digoxin Concentration and Outcomes in Patients With Heart Failure
Rathore, S. S., Curtis, J. P., Wang, Y., Bristow, M. R., & Krumholz, H. M. (2003) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.289.7.871 · Cited by 772 · see citing works
ACC/AHA/ESC 2006 guidelines for the management of patients with atrial fibrillation: full text
Fuster, V., Rydén, L., Cannom, D. S., Crijns, H. J. G. M., Curtis, A. B., Ellenbogen, K. A., Halperin, J. L., Heuzey, J. L., Kay, G. N., Lowe, J. E., et al. (2006) · EP Europace · doi:10.1093/europace/eul097 · Cited by 663 · see citing works
The Polymorphonuclear Leukocyte and the Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm
Tilson, M. D. (2005) · Circulation · doi:10.1161/circulationaha.105.553370 · Cited by 654 · see citing works
Lewis, J. D., Schinnar, R., Bilker, W. B., Wang, X., & Strom, B. L. (2007) · Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety · doi:10.1002/pds.1335 · Cited by 602 · see citing works
Inappropriate Medication Prescribing for Elderly Ambulatory Care Patients
Goulding, M. R. (2004) · Archives of Internal Medicine · doi:10.1001/archinte.164.3.305 · Cited by 291 · see citing works
Feasibility study and methodology to create a quality-evaluated database of primary care data
Bourke, A., Dattani, H., & Robinson, M. (2004) · Journal of Innovation in Health Informatics · doi:10.14236/jhi.v12i3.124 · Cited by 286 · see citing works
Antibiotic Treatment of Children With Sore Throat
Linder, J. A. (2005) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.294.18.2315 · Cited by 198 · see citing works
Clinical benefits of low serum digoxin concentrations in heart failure
Adams, K. F., Gheorghiade, M., Uretsky, B. F., Patterson, J. H., Schwartz, T. A., & Young, J. B. (2002) · Journal of the American College of Cardiology · doi:10.1016/s0735-1097(02)01708-4 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
Mahdyoon, H., Battilana, G., Rosman, H., Goldstein, S., & Gheorghiade, M. (1990) · American Heart Journal · doi:10.1016/0002-8703(90)90135-k · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Ma, J., Lee, K., & Stafford, R. S. (2006) · Hypertension · doi:10.1161/01.hyp.0000240931.90917.0c · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Effect of Aging on the Incidence of Digoxin Toxicity
Miura, T., Kojima, R., Sugiura, Y., Mizutani, M., Takatsu, F., & Suzuki, Y. (2000) · Annals of Pharmacotherapy · doi:10.1345/aph.19103 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
WILLIAMSON, K. M., Thrasher, K., Fulton, K. B., LaPointe, N. M. A., Dunham, G. D., Cooper, A. A., Barrett, P. S., & Patterson, J. H. (1998) · Archives of Internal Medicine · doi:10.1001/archinte.158.22.2444 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Digoxin Use and Digoxin Toxicity in the Post-DIG Trial Era
Hussain, Z., Swindle, J. P., & Hauptman, P. J. (2006) · Journal of Cardiac Failure · doi:10.1016/j.cardfail.2006.02.005 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Digoxin-Specific Antibody Fragments
Bateman, D. N. (2004) · Toxicological Reviews · doi:10.2165/00139709-200423030-00001 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
The impact of age on risk of adverse drug reactions to digoxin
Pahor, M., Guralnik, J. M., Gambassi, G., Bernabei, R., Carosella, L., & Carbonin, P. (1993) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/0895-4356(93)90099-m · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Quinidine enhances digitalis toxicity at therapeutic serum digoxin levels
Mordel, A., Halkin, H., Zulty, L., Almog, S., & Ezra, . (1993) · Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics · doi:10.1038/clpt.1993.51 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Economic Impact of Digoxin Toxicity
Gandhi, A. J., Vlasses, P. H., Morton, D. J., & Bauman, J. L. (1997) · PharmacoEconomics · doi:10.2165/00019053-199712020-00007 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Eisenstein, E. L., Yusuf, S., Bindal, V., Bourassa, M. G., Horney, A., Collins, J. F., & Mark, D. B. (2006) · Journal of Cardiac Failure · doi:10.1016/j.cardfail.2006.04.002 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Frequency estimates from prescription drug datasets (revision of #04‐11‐066A)
Lin, S., Lambert, B. L., Tan, H., & Toh, S. (2005) · Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety · doi:10.1002/pds.1149 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Ziff, O. J., Lane, D. A., Samra, M., Griffith, M., Kirchhof, P., Lip, G. Y. H., Steeds, R. P., Townend, J., & Kotecha, D. (2015) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.h4451 · Cited by 341 · see citing works
Gut reactions: Breaking down xenobiotic–microbiome interactions
Clarke, G., Sandhu, K. V., Griffin, B. T., Dinan, T. G., Cryan, J. F., & Hyland, N. P. (2019) · Pharmacological Reviews · doi:10.1124/pr.118.015768 · Cited by 319 · see citing works
Management of digoxin toxicity
Pincus, M. W. (2016) · Australian Prescriber · doi:10.18773/austprescr.2016.006 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Therapeutic Ranges of Serum Digoxin Concentrations in Patients With Heart Failure
Goldberger, Z. D., & Goldberger, A. L. (2012) · The American Journal of Cardiology · doi:10.1016/j.amjcard.2012.02.028 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
A Review of Emergency Cardiopulmonary Bypass for Severe Poisoning by Cardiotoxic Drugs
Johnson, N. J., Gaieski, D. F., Allen, S. R., Perrone, J., & DeRoos, F. J. (2012) · Journal of Medical Toxicology · doi:10.1007/s13181-012-0281-8 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Emergency Department Visits and Hospitalizations for Digoxin Toxicity
See, I., Shehab, N., Kegler, S. R., Laskar, S. R., & Budnitz, D. S. (2013) · Circulation Heart Failure · doi:10.1161/circheartfailure.113.000784 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
30-Day Potentially Avoidable Readmissions Due to Adverse Drug Events
Dalleur, O., Beeler, P. E., Schnipper, J. L., & Donzé, J. D. (2017) · Journal of Patient Safety · doi:10.1097/pts.0000000000000346 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Schmiedl, S., Rottenkolber, M., Szymanski, J., Drewelow, B., Siegmund, W., Hippius, M., Farker, K., Guenther, I. R., Hasford, J., Thürmann, P., et al. (2017) · Expert Opinion on Drug Safety · doi:10.1080/14740338.2018.1415322 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Digoxin Toxicity and Use of Digoxin Immune Fab
Hauptman, P. J., Blume, S. W., Lewis, E. F., & Ward, S. (2016) · JACC Heart Failure · doi:10.1016/j.jchf.2016.01.011 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Digoxin Use and Associated Adverse Events Among Older Adults
Angraal, S., Nuti, S. V., Masoudi, F. A., Freeman, J. V., Murugiah, K., Shah, N. D., Desai, N. R., Ranasinghe, I., Wang, Y., & Krumholz, H. M. (2019) · The American Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2019.04.022 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Trends in Laboratory Test Volumes for Medicare Part B Reimbursements, 2000–2010
Shahangian, S., Alspach, T. D., Astles, J. R., Yesupriya, A., & Dettwyler, W. K. (2013) · Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine · doi:10.5858/arpa.2013-0149-oa · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Digoxin and ouabain increase the synthesis of cholesterol in human liver cells
Campia, I., Gazzano, E., Pescarmona, G., Ghigo, D., Bosìa, A., & Riganti, C. (2009) · Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences · doi:10.1007/s00018-009-9018-5 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Clinical manifestations of elderly patients with digitalis intoxication in the emergency department
Pita‐Fernández, S., Lombardía-Cortiña, M., Orozco‐Beltrán, D., & Gil-Guillén, V. F. (2010) · Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics · doi:10.1016/j.archger.2010.07.003 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Campia, I., Sala, V., Kopecka, J., Leo, C., Mitro, N., Costamagna, C., Caruso, D., Pescarmona, G., Crepaldi, T., Ghigo, D., et al. (2012) · Biochemical Journal · doi:10.1042/bj20120200 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Prognostic Utility of Serum Potassium in Chronic Digoxin Toxicity
Manini, A. F., Nelson, L. S., & Hoffman, R. S. (2011) · American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs · doi:10.2165/11590340-000000000-00000 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Digoxin: its role in contemporary medicine
Stucky, M. A., & Goldberger, Z. D. (2015) · Postgraduate Medical Journal · doi:10.1136/postgradmedj-2014-132937 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Observational cohort study of the safety of digoxin use in women with heart failure
Flory, J. H., Ky, B., Haynes, K., M Brunelli, S., Munson, J., Rowan, C., Strom, B. L., & Hennessy, S. (2012) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2012-000888 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Self-citationYu, H. T., Yang, P., Lee, H., You, S. C., Kim, T., Uhm, J., Kim, J., Pak, H., Lee, M., & Joung, B. (2017) · Circulation Journal · doi:10.1253/circj.cj-17-0669 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Chan, A. L. F., Wang, M., Su, C.-Y., & Tsai, F.-H. (2009) · European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00228-009-0698-4 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Peters, A. E., Chiswell, K., Hofmann, P., Ambrosy, A. P., & Fudim, M. (2022) · The American Journal of Cardiology · doi:10.1016/j.amjcard.2022.08.004 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Retrospective evaluation of patients with elevated digoxin levels at an emergency department
Limon, G., Ersoy, G., Oray, N. Ç., Bayram, B., & Limon, Ö. (2016) · Turkish Journal of Emergency Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.tjem.2015.10.001 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Increased risk of digoxin toxicity following hospitalization
Haynes, K., Hennessy, S., Localio, A. R., Cohen, A. L., Leonard, C. E., Kimmel, S. E., Feldman, H. I., Strom, B. L., & Metlay, J. P. (2008) · Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety · doi:10.1002/pds.1680 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Self-citationEmergency department management of calcium-channel blocker, beta blocker, and digoxin toxicity.
Palatnick, W., & Jelic, T. M. (2014) · PubMed · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Voulgaridou, G., Paraskeva, T., Ragia, G., Atzemian, N., Portokallidou, K., Kolios, G. C., Arvanitidis, K. I., & Manolopoulos, V. G. (2023) · Pharmaceutics · doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics15092181 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Declining Public Health Burden of Digoxin Toxicity: Decreased Use or Safer Prescribing?
Schmiedl, S., Rottenkolber, M., Szymanski, J., Hasford, J., & Thürmann, P. (2008) · Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics · doi:10.1038/clpt.2008.252 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Predictive Factors for Recurrence of Serious Arrhythmias in Patients with Acute Digoxin Poisoning
El‐Sarnagawy, G. N., Sharkawy, S. I. E., & Helal, N. E. (2021) · Cardiovascular Toxicology · doi:10.1007/s12012-021-09673-y · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Dimeski, G., Jones, B. W., Pillans, P. I., Page, C. B., & Brown, N. N. (2014) · Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) · doi:10.1515/cclm-2013-1043 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Du, P., Wang, A., Ma, Y., Jia, A., Li, Y., & Li, X. (2020) · Clinical Therapeutics · doi:10.1016/j.clinthera.2020.07.011 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Kolev, K. K. (2012) · BMJ Case Reports · doi:10.1136/bcr.01.2012.5582 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Digoxin Toxicity in a Patient with Pacemaker: A Case Report
Bridwell, R. E., Baker, K. A., Hoyte, C. O., & Ng, P. C. Y. (2019) · Cureus · doi:10.7759/cureus.6056 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Du, P., Wang, A., Ma, Y., Jia, A., Li, Y., & Li, X. (2021) · Clinical Therapeutics · doi:10.1016/j.clinthera.2021.02.005 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Possible Digoxin-Related Toxic Effects in a Patient
Lee, C., & Scheinman, M. M. (2024) · JAMA Internal Medicine · doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.7244 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Digoxin in chronic heart failure: possibility of a second chance?
Perez, A. V., Turan, R. G., & Rauchhaus, M. (2010) · QJM · doi:10.1093/qjmed/hcq197 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Case report on the interaction between furosemide and digoxin that caused digoxin toxicity
Patel, R., Patel, P., Patel, N. A., Gangwani, J., & Patel, D. (2022) · Journal of Drug Delivery and Therapeutics · doi:10.22270/jddt.v12i5-s.5717 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Effects of Age, Gender, and Comorbid Diseases on Serum Digoxin Levels During Digoxin Treatment
Izmir Ataturk Egitim ve Arastirma Hastanesi, K. F. V. T. B., Ozturk, Z., ÇUHADAR, S., & Izmir Ataturk Egitim ve Arastirma Hastanesi, T. B. L. (2017) · Bezmialem Science · doi:10.14235/bs.2017.1383 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Goh, J. Y., & Siaw, C. (2023) · Malaysian Family Physician · doi:10.51866/tyk.256 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
(2015) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-444-53717-1.00456-x · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Gebran, N. (2012) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-02202-9_275 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Cardiac Na/K-ATPase in ischemia-reperfusion injury and cardioprotection
Duan, Q. (2014) · OhioLink ETD Center (Ohio Library and Information Network)
Blurry-Eyed with Rapid Heart Beats
Shakespeare, W. A., & Šprung, J. (2015) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-7495-1_143
Digoxin and Heart Failure: Are We Clear Yet?
Gupta, A. K., Dakkak, M., & Miller, A. B. (2017) · Cardiovascular Innovations and Applications · doi:10.15212/cvia.2016.0044
Digoxin Toxicity Awareness: When Fatigue isn’t what You Think
LeBlanc, M. R., Pieris, E., & Thompson, M. (2017) · Archives of Medicine · doi:10.21767/1989-5216.1000241
Updates in Digoxin Toxicity and Outcome of Management: A Review
Ibrahim, I. A., Alotaibi, R. A., Almhmd, A. E., Alghamdi, R., Almogbel, A. T., & Alsaeri, A. S. (2021) · Journal of Pharmaceutical Research International · doi:10.9734/jpri/2021/v33i47a33025
A Case Report on Chronic Digoxin Toxicity
Bala, P., Reza, A., Ali, M., Khan, M. H., Islam, N., & Reza, S. A. (2021) · Bangladesh Heart Journal · doi:10.3329/bhj.v36i2.56040
Current awareness: Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety
(2008) · Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety · doi:10.1002/pds.1493
Positive inotropic drugs and drugs used in dysrhythmias
Aronson, J. K. (2010) · Side effects of drugs annual · doi:10.1016/s0378-6080(10)32017-4
Cuthbert, J. J., & Clark, A. L. (2022) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/med/9780198766223.003.0053
Management of Drug Overdose and Intoxications in the ICU
Calnan, L. R., & Gass, J. A. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-77335-8_37
Atrial Fibrillation With a Most Regular Rhythm
Lee, C., & Scheinman, M. M. (2026) · JAMA Internal Medicine · doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2026.5352
- Authors
- Haynes, K., Heitjan, D., Kanetsky, P., & Hennessy, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2007-12-19
- Volume
- 84
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 90-94
- ISSN
- 0009-9236 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-6535
- OpenAlex
- W2165905552
- Cited by
- 49
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 1.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute on Aging (F32-AG-026180-01, F32AG026180)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Geriatrics and Gerontology › Pharmaceutical Practices and Patient Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Emergency Medicine › Poisoning and overdose treatments
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Toxicology › Pharmacovigilance and Adverse Drug Reactions
- Keywords
- digoxin toxicity, hospitalization, outpatient care, prescribing patterns, public health burden, United States, United Kingdom
- MeSH terms
- Ambulatory Care, Digoxin, United Kingdom, Hospitalization, Humans, Public Health, United States, Databases, Factual, Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review