January 24, 2012

Not all drug warnings are created equally. At least that is what new research from a doctor at the University of Chicago shows. According to MedPage Today, his data confirms that the attention people pay to drug warnings from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can vary greatly.

The researcher examined 49 studies that were published over a 20-year period and conducted extensive interviews with doctors and patients to gather results on how fast and to what extent the studies’ warnings were heeded by doctors. What they found was astounding.

The first thing they noticed was that similar warnings against drugs received different responses depending on the severity of the danger. For instance, they saw that while the use of Avandia dropped after warnings of cardiovascular events, the use of long-acting beta-agonists (LABAs) without inhaled controller medications did not decrease after warnings.

They also found that warnings aimed for certain age groups spilled into other age groups. For example, after warnings for antidepressant use in children, decline in adult use followed as well.

The most disturbing discovery was that most physicians do not heed warnings about increased monitoring of patients taking certain medications. For example, glucose testing for patients on antipsychotics did not change after the FDA warned to watch for hyperlipidemia and diabetes in those patients.

The Dallas drug injury lawyers with Ferrer,Poirot & Daniel urge citizens to educate themselves on medications recommended to them by a doctor before taking anything. If you have been injured from taking a drug at no fault of your own, contact an experienced attorney today.