Adverse Drug Reactions: A Practical Guide

Description

An adverse drug reaction (ADR) can be defined as ‘an appreciably harmful or unpleasant reaction resulting from an intervention related to the use of a medicinal product; adverse effects usually predict hazard from future administration and warrant prevention, or specific treatment, or alteration of the dosage regimen, or withdrawal of the product’. Knowledge of patient susceptibilities can inform your prescribing decision and reduce the risk of an ADR. A patient's medication history will identify any previous ADRs and therefore preclude re-exposure to the drug. In other cases, susceptibility factors such as age, gender, pregnancy status and ethnicity can help predict the risk of an ADR occurring. Allergic ADRs typically occur soon after a drug is taken but generally do not occur after the first dose; typically, they occur when the drug is given after an initial exposure. Symptoms include itching, rash, fixed-drug eruption, upper or lower airway edema with difficulty breathing, and hypotension. Various diseases, especially those that cause renal or hepatic insufficiency, may alter drug metabolism. Resources are available that report changes in a drug's metabolism due to disease states. This book is very important and essential for every pharmacy student because it’s direct connection with pharmaceutical industry, particularly in manufacture of parenteral products, ophthalmic and vaccines etc. and their aseptic processing and sterilization.