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In March 2007, a legislative amendment was issued in Sweden compelling nurses to report all suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) to the national pharmacovigilance system. The aims of this study were to describe the status of ADR reporting, before and after the implementation of the legislative changes, and to describe the general characteristics of suspected ADRs reported by nurses. The Swedish pharmacovigilance system during the study period constituted six regional centres responsible for the handling of all spontaneous ADR reports within their region. In this study, we identified all individual ADR reports from 2005 and 2010, analysed in depth the ADR reports from two regional centres and collated information about the reporter and the nature of the reported ADR. From the two regional centres, a total of 898 and 1074 reports were submitted in 2005 and 2010 respectively. Nurses submitted 31 % (275 reports) of the reports in 2005 and 24 % (260 reports) in 2010. Nurses' reporting of serious ADRs was 3 % (seven reports) in 2005 and 7 % (17 reports) in 2010 with reporting of unlabelled ADRs at 4 % (11 reports) in 2005 and 17 % (45 reports) in 2010. Most of the serious and/or unlabelled reactions were related to vaccine administration (14 reports in 2005 and 36 reports in 2010). The overall ADR reporting by nurses did not appear to increase after the change in reporting legislation. The proportion of serious and/or unlabelled ADRs reported by nurses did however appear to increase during the same period. Taken together, our data suggests that further pro-active measures should be considered in order to involve nurses in the reporting of suspected ADRs.

OBJECTIVE: There are case reports about antidepressants causing arthritis and arthralgia, and the majority of these reports deal with atypical antidepressants, which are serotonin receptor 2A (5-HT(2A))-blocking substances. The aim of this study was to examine a possible association between joint disorders and the use of 5-HT(2A)-blocking atypical antidepressants.

METHODS: We performed a retrospective study using reports of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) of 5-HT(2A)-blocking atypical antidepressant substances concerning joint disorders reported to the Swedish Adverse Drug Reactions Committee and the World Health Organization (WHO) Adverse Reactions Database during the period January 1, 1990 to December 31, 2006. The reports of joint disorders were related to sales figures measured as defined daily doses and to the total number of ADR reports.

RESULTS: In the Swedish material, the 5-HT(2A) antagonists were 45 times more often reported to give joint ADRs when related to sales figures and compared with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs; P < 0.001). Joint disorders constituted 6.6% of the total number of reports of possible ADRs for the three 5-HT(2A)-blocking substances mianserin, mirtazapine, and nefazodone compared with 0.5% for the SSRIs (P < 0.001). In the WHO material, the joint disorders constituted 1.3% of all ADRs for the 5-HT(2A)-blocking antidepressants and 0.6% for the SSRIs (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION: In this study, joint disorders were considerably more frequently reported ADRs of 5-HT(2A)-blocking antidepressants than of other comparable drugs, suggesting a possible association between the use of 5-HT(2A)-blocking antidepressants and joint disorders.

PURPOSE: To assess the occurrence and pattern of adverse drug reactions as a cause for acute hospital admission.

METHODS: In 681 randomly selected patients, acutely admitted to a clinic of internal medicine at a Swedish university hospital, information was collected from their medical records about current symptoms and use of drugs, previous diseases and the results of medical investigations and tests. In addition, a standardized interview according to a questionnaire was carried out. A group of experts in clinical pharmacology assessed the data obtained from the patients' case records and the results of the interviews, and then, according to WHO criteria, judged the probability that an adverse drug reaction could have caused or contributed to the actual admission to hospital.

RESULTS: Out of the 681 cases included, 94 (13.8%) had symptoms and signs that were judged as drug-related and that had caused or contributed to the admission. Eighty-two patients (12.0%) had altogether 99 symptoms that were classified as adverse drug reactions. Of these, 91% were type A reactions. The relationship between the medication and the reaction was judged certain in eight, probable in 17, and possible in 74 cases. The most common adverse drug reactions were cardiovascular (36.3%). Twelve patients (1.8%) had symptoms indicating intoxications.

CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of drug-related problems causing or contributing to admission to a clinic of internal medicine is high and is dominated by type A reactions, i.e. reactions in principle predictable and preventable. This implies a possibility to increase drug safety by preventive measures.