media publicity impact on prescribing of paroxetine and the notification of suspected adverse drug reactions

Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2006 February; 61(2): 224–228.

Published online 2005 October 27. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.2005.02527.x. PMCID: PMC1884992
Copyright © 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd


Did intense adverse media publicity impact on prescribing of paroxetine and the notification of suspected adverse drug reactions? Analysis of routine databases, 2001–2004
Richard M Martin, Margaret May, and David Gunnell
Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Correspondence Richard Martin, Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, Whiteladies Road, Bristol BS8 2PR, UK. Tel: + 117 928 7321 Fax: + 117 928 7236 E-mail: Email: richard.martin@bristol.ac.uk
 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1884992/

Figure 2


Suspected adverse drug reactions to paroxetine (yellow-card reports) per 100 000 paroxetine prescriptions by year and month between 2001 and 2004. Arrows indicate dates of Panorama programmes (solid arrows) or regulatory communications (dashed arrows)


Analysis of yellow-card data suggests that adverse publicity, particularly the three Panorama programmes, was associated with marked, short-term peaks in reporting (Figure 2). The mean rate of yellow-card reporting (per 100 000 prescriptions) in the month before each regulatory announcement was 7.6 vs. 8.0 in the month after. In contrast, the mean rate of yellow-card reporting in the month before each media publicity episode was 8.3 vs. 13.4 in the month after. An identical pattern of peaks and troughs in yellow-card reporting of suspected adverse drug reactions to paroxetine was observed when the temporal trend in number of reports was plotted (data not shown).



From:Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2006 February; 61(2): 224–228.

Published online 2005 October 27. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.2005.02527.x.Copyright © 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd