Iryo Yakugaku (Japanese Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Care and Sciences)
Online ISSN : 1882-1499
Print ISSN : 1346-342X
ISSN-L : 1346-342X
Regular Articles
Problems with Causality Assessment Criteria for Individual Case Safety Reports
Masahiro TakatsukiHiroyuki FurukawaKenichi Miyamoto
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2008 Volume 34 Issue 9 Pages 838-846

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify the causality assessment information items necessary to improve the usefulness of individual case safety reports (ICSRs) from medical facilities as adverse drug reaction (ADR) information.To do this,we investigated standard causality assessment items used by pharmaceutical companies.The number of the companies responding was 76,93.8% of all Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (JPMA) member companies.
We found that the use of algorithms for causality assessment,the grades and expressions used to describe causality,and criteria for determining whether reactions were ADRs or not varied among the companies as well as their divisions (whether they conducted clinical trials or post-marketing surveillance).Having such a variety of assessment criteria is inconvenient for the reporters who have to judge it and also lowers the validity of judgments.It also hampers the overall assessment of ADR information and may cause great differences in ADR frequencies.We therefore feel that it is desirable to agree on international criteria for causality assessment as soon as possible.

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© 2008 Japanese Society of Pharmaceutical Health Care and Sciences
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