Recent Headlines
Prescription drug reactions appear to be on the rise, according to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), http://www.ismp.org/default.asp a non-profit group with a 30 year history of monitoring drug use and practice. Citing FDA data, the Institute points to 20,745 adverse events in the first 3 months of 2008. This represents a 38% increase over the average of the previous four calendar quarters. Of these reported serious events, nearly 4,800 resulted in the death of the patient.
Adverse events are defined by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as ones that cause hospitalization, require medical intervention or place a life in danger. The reporting system is basically flawed as it relies on a voluntary reporting method and is thought to miss a significant number of events and, in fact, only represents a small fraction of the overall total.
The major impact on the statistics this time appear to be driven by two drugs, Chantix, a relative newcomer used for smoking cessation, and heparin, the blood thinning agent. Chantix had the most events reported, mostly involving abnormal psychiatric events. It is thought that heparin events relate to the tainted batches of the source material of the drug delivered from China.
One continuing source of events that some think are vastly under-reported, relates to the use of anti-biotics. It is widely known that these medications can produce anti-biotic induced diarrhea (AID) www.florastories.com, as well as some startling effects on tendon integrity. I have had two recent patients tell me of their ruptured Achilles Tendons following a course of Levaquin, a flouroquinolone.
I believe we, as a nation, are vastly over-medicated. Whether because of effective ad campaigns by pharmaceutical manufacturers or a lack of oversight by federal agencies to protect the health of the populace, we take too many drugs. We have been conditioned to accept, and in some cases demand, inappropriate and poorly researched medications. The result, unless change is made, will be a continual rise in the statistics of adverse events.