Adverse drug reactions rise sharply, study says

The number nearly triples since the FDA began a new reporting system in 1998. The main culprits are painkillers.

The number of serious adverse events and deaths attributed to prescription medications has nearly tripled since the Food and Drug Administration initiated a system in 1998 to make it easier to report significant side effects, researchers said today.

Twenty percent of drugs accounted for 87.1% of adverse effects, and the biggest offenders were painkillers and drugs that modify the immune system to treat arthritis, according to the report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

A quarter of the increase could be attributed to a boost in prescriptions and another 15% to the introduction of new biotechnology drugs since 1998, but the rest of the increase could not be explained, said drug safety expert Thomas J. Moore of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices in Huntingdon Valley, Pa.

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