How can I make sense of the side effects data of any drug with regard to safety? Will I have to check for the frequency of each Adverse reaction? Will I have to know which type this Adverse reaction is, like whether it is type A, or B, etc.. Or I have to go beyond that? In other words, what do you look for when you look at the side effects of any drug?
Side effects or ADRs can occur in any patient at normal doses so make sure to exclude toxic and over doses as they are errors/adverse events and not Adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Secondly, exclude alternative causes (contraindications, interactions, enivronmental or genetic causes like G6PD etc).
Search in references for documentation of ADR. Establish a temporal relation for suspected drug causing an ADR and evaluate using algorithm scales like Naranjo scale, inorder to identify whether suspected drug is an actual cause of ADR or not.
Careful evaluation should be done before flagging a medication for allergy as sometimes ADRs or intolerance are misterpreted as allergic reaction.
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