Drug points

Drug points

We ask reviewers to check that these reports of adverse drug events include:

  • Age and sex of patients
  • Suspected drug and all drugs currently being taken with start, stop, and restart dates; and outcome. Generally something more than simple coincidence in time is required: rechallenge with the patient’s informed consent, or immunological investigations may tip the balance of probabilities.
  • Prior experience with drug or adverse reactions to related drugs
  • Other diseases and environmental factors and their timing
  • Ancillary information from pharmaceutical company and regulatory agency
  • All published reports
  • Other factors relevant to verify specific types of adverse drug reactions (for example, blood concentration in overdose, baseline laboratory data, ethnic group)

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