Current Drug Safety - Volume 2, Issue 1, 2007

At first sight the question: "Is current drug safety an issue?" might appear to be unnecessary. On one hand, it might be argued that drug safety is straightforward: all the physician has to do is to consult his formulary and he will have all the information he requires to use drugs safely. On the other hand, the major clinical, medicolegal and financial aspects of drug safety, together with the ever-increasing store of knowledge an Read More

Erectile dysfunction occurs extensively among patients with arterial hypertension. We investigated the safety of sildenafil for patients with and without antihypertensive medication. Our study included data from 35 double-blind, placebo- controlled, and randomized investigations, with a total of 8115 patients. The term of therapy was between 6 weeks and 6 months, for both the sildenafil group (5-200 mg, n = 4819) as well as Read More

The range of diseases in which intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is effective has expanded significantly since its initial use in primary antibody deficiency. This biological medicine must comply with three conditions: therapeutic efficacy, clinical tolerance and viral safety. Factors relevant to the viral safety of IVIG include: effective use of donor exclusion criteria, screening of donations in order to exclude potentially infectious Read More

There is nothing new about supervision in primary health care service delivery. Supervision was even conducted by the Egyptian pyramid builders. Those supervising have often favoured ridicule and discipline to push individuals and communities to perform their duties. A traditional form of supervision, based on a top-down colonial model, was originally attempted as a tool to improve health service staff performance. This h Read More

Formal retraction notice of article entitled Prevention of Emetic Episodes During Cesarean Delivery Performed Under Regional Anesthesia in Parturients (Curr Drug Saf. 2007 Jan;2(1):25-32) by Dr Y. Fujii. This article is being retracted as a result of: Failure of Dr. Fijii's institution as well as of himself to rationalize the legitimacy of the study and/or its data as stipulated in request by the Editors-in-Chief of the journals extended Read More

Attention-Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a condition that presents with a variety of behavioral and social problems. The objective of this review was to examine the evidence concerning the controversies surrounding the diagnosis of ADHD and the safety of pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatment. A MEDLINE search was conducted using MeSH terms ADHD, children, treatments or behavioral therapy. Read More

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a gram negative, spiral, microaerophylic bacterium that infects the stomach of more than 50% of the human population worldwide. H. pylori is well recognized as a critical factor in the majority of patients with peptic ulcer disease and successful treatment results in cure of the disease. On the other hand, H. pylori infection has been associated with several extra-intestinal diseases such as h Read More

The musculoskeletal system can be a target organ for adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Drug-induced muscle, bone or connective tissue injuries may be due to, i), primary direct drug action, or, ii), undirected consequence of generalized drug-induced disease. Musculoskeletal ADRs may be only temporarily disabling, such as muscle cramps, as well as in other cases may be serious and life-threatening, such as rhabdomyolysis. In Read More

Pharmacovigilance is defined as "the detection, evaluation, understanding and prevention of adverse drug reactions (ADRs)". The ultimate aim of pharmacovigilance is the optimization of the risk-benefit ratio of marketed drugs at the individual level (i.e. the choice of the most suitable treatment for a given patient) and at the population level (i.e. maintenance or removal of a drug from the market, informing prescribers Read More

Spironolacotone and eplerenone are mineralocorticoid-blocking agents. These compounds block both the epithelial and non-epithelial actions of aldosterone with the latter assuming increasing clinical importance. Spironolactone and eplerenone both effectively reduce blood pressure either as mono- or add-on therapy; moreover, they each offer survival benefits in diverse circumstances of heart failure and the potential for r Read More

The serious nature of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) has been highlighted in a number of instances over the last forty years, the most recent of these being the occurrence of serious thrombotic events with the use of COX-2 inhibitors. ADRs are estimated to be between the 4th and 6th leading cause of death in the USA, with fatal ADRs occurring in 0.32% of patients. A recent UK study showed that 6.5% of hospital admis Read More