Trends in the Reporting of Adverse Drug Reactions:A Global Review of Literature

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) occurdue to the drugs that are prescribed in acute and chronic or terminal ailments. They are a bane to the healthcare society as they not only challenge the principles of prescribing individual drug candidates but also the prescribing of multiple drugs. This may hold the patient, especially geriatric and pediatric patients, at a high risk of unexpected, undesired and serious events. In the review of current literature, it was observed that it was the commonly prescribed drugs such as hematological agents, anti-hypertensive medications, anti-arrhythmic medications, neuroleptics, proton pump inhibitors and especially Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) that caused most of the ADRs in elderly patients (60 years of age and above). In most cases, the affected systems were the Cardio Vascular System (CVS), the nervous system, the Gastrointestinal (GI) system and the most common symptoms seen were nausea, vomiting, headache, stomach ache, dizziness and vertigo that led to falls. In this article, the occurrence of ADRs due to polypharmacy or Potentially Inappropriate Prescriptions (PIPs) and how they affect children belonging to the pediatric age group (i.e. 16 years and less) were investigated. In this review of literature, it was found that the main reason for ADRs were off-label prescription of drugs.The off-label prescription of drugs refers to the prescriptionofdrugsfor a different purpose other than its approved use. Off-label prescription of drugs cause major psychiatric disorders, skin eruptions, enteral problems and some severe reactions like respiratory depression, hypotension, liver failure, seizures, bradycardia, bleeding etc. with the use of drugs such as anti-tussive agents, rhinological agents and GI drugs. Ultimately, it was determined that it was not the age group that determined the occurrence of ADRs, but it was the prescription errors, polypharmacy and drug-drug interaction that caused casualties and inpatient admissions, out of which some cases proved to be fatal.