%0 Journal Article
%T What can we learn from consumer reports on psychiatric adverse drug reactions with antidepressant medication? Experiences from reports to a consumer association
%A Andreas Vilhelmsson
%A Tommy Svensson
%A Anna Meeuwisse
%A Anders Carlsten
%J BMC Pharmacology and Toxicology
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1472-6904-11-16
%X All reports submitted from January 2002 to April 2009 to an open web site in Sweden where anyone could report their experience with the use of pharmaceuticals were analyzed with focus on common psychiatric side effects related to antidepressant usage. More than one ADR for a specific drug could be reported.In total 665 reports were made during the period. 442 reports concerned antidepressant medications and the individual antidepressant reports represented 2392 ADRs and 878 (37%) of these were psychiatric ADRs. 75% of the individual reports concerned serotonin-reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and the rest serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI). Women reported more antidepressant psychiatric ADRs (71%) compared to men (24%). More potentially serious psychiatric ADRs were frequently reported to KILEN and withdrawal symptoms during discontinuation were also reported as a common issue.The present study indicates that consumer reports may contribute with important information regarding more serious psychiatric ADRs following antidepressant treatment. Consumer reporting may be considered a complement to traditional ADR reporting.The World Health Organization (WHO) argues that the cost of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in the general population (in developed countries) is high [1]. Pharmacoeconomic studies from 1997 and 1998 have estimated that ADRs may lead to an additional $1.56 to $4 billion in direct hospital costs per year in the United States [2-4]. These estimations are however uncertain and in most countries the extent of this expenditure has not been measured. The reporting of potential ADRs by healthcare professionals is supported by WHO and their Drug Monitoring Programme [5], and under-reporting by health professionals is a well-recognized problem by the WHO [6]. Another way to increase ADR reporting could be to let the consumers themselves report directly to the authorities.One important step towards consumer reporting of ADRs was recently taken by the Eur
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6904/11/16