Electronic health records could help improve the reporting of serious medication-related side effects, according to a new study published in the journal Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Study Details
Drugmaker Pfizer sponsored the study, which was conducted at Boston’s Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.
For the study, physicians at the two hospitals had access to an electronic reporting system for adverse drug events over a five-month period in 2008 and 2009.
During the study period, 26 physicians used the electronic system to report 217 side effects to FDA regulators. About one in five of the reports involved serious side effects, such as hospitalization (Rockoff, Wall Street Journal, 10/15).
Researchers also surveyed the physicians and found that 21 of the 23 respondents said they had not submitted any adverse event reports to FDA during the previous year (Linder et al., Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, 10/11).
Possible Implications
The research suggests that widespread EHR use could help alert FDA to possible problems with specific drugs, according to the Journal.
Arthur Holden — CEO of the International Serious Adverse Events Consortium — said EHRs also could identify candidates for clinical studies to help physicians predict which patients would face side effects from certain prescriptions (Wall Street Journal, 10/15).