Prescription drugs injuries increase

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Reports of serious injury and death as a result of taking prescription drugs have more than doubled since 1998, a recent study found. \nThe study, published in the Sept. 10 edition of Archives of Internal Medicine, found that prescription drugs accounted for 89,842 cases of serious injuries in 2005 – 2.6 times the amount of cases reported in 1998. Fatalities increased 2.7-fold during that time. \n“We’re losing ground (on making drugs safe),” said Thomas Moore, senior scientist for the Institute for Safe Medication Practices and author of the study. “That ought to be a wake-up call that this is an important risk that we’re not doing enough with.” \nThe Food and Drug Administration defines a “serious adverse event” as an one that results in death, a birth defect, disability, hospitalization, is life-threatening or requires intervention to prevent harm. \nAdditionally, the study found that reports of serious adverse effects from prescription drugs rose four times faster than the total number of outpatient prescriptions during the eight-year study period. \nJunior Cheri Garlena said she has been taking a prescription drug regularly since second grade. She said she is surprised by the results of the study, but the benefits of her medication “definitely” outweigh the risks. \n“I know all the effects of my drug, so I’m not really worried about it,” Garlena said. \nEvan Pattishall, clinical director at University Health Services, wrote in an e-mail message that reactions to medications do occur with Penn State students and that UHS tries to limit prescribing unnecessary medications to keep reactions at bay. \n“We do see students with adverse drug reactions – thankfully, not frequently,” he wrote. “Our electronic health record also allows us to keep track of students who we have seen who have had a drug reaction, so that they do not receive the drug again.” \nMoore said he and the other authors of the study think “the FDA’s drug safety program needs more money, more staff, more legal authority and more independence” in order to ensure that drugs on the market are safe. \n“I believe we need to realize every drug has both risks and benefits, and we need to weigh both,” Moore said. \nIn response to the study, the director of the FDA’s Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology, Gerald Dal Pan, wrote in a press release that his office is taking the increasing number of reports of adverse effects seriously. \nHe wrote that the reasons for the increase are not completely known, but may partially be a result of more prescription drugs being used by more people. Dal Pan added that the increase could also be attributed to more drug information available on the Internet. \nThe FDA is working on an updated version of the current “adverse events” database to improve efficiency of detection and analysis, he wrote. \nTwenty percent of the 1,489 drugs surveyed accounted for 87 percent of the 467,809 total adverse events reported, the study found.