Pharmacovigilance, risks and adverse effects of self-medication
Therapie. 2016 Apr;71(2):257-62.
doi: 10.1016/j.therap.2016.02.012.
Epub 2016 Feb 6.
[Article in
English,
French]
Authors
Jean-Louis Montastruc
1
, Emmanuelle Bondon-Guitton
2
, Delphine Abadie
2
, Isabelle Lacroix
2
, Aurélia Berreni
2
, Grégory Pugnet
3
, Geneviève Durrieu
2
, Laurent Sailler
3
, Jean-Paul Giroud
4
, Christine Damase-Michel
2
, François Montastruc
2
Affiliations
- 1 Service de pharmacologie médicale et clinique, centre Midi-Pyrénées de pharmacovigilance, pharmacoépidémiologie et informations sur le médicament, pharmacopôle Midi-Pyrénées, faculté de médecine, CHU de Toulouse, CIC Inserm 1436, 31000 Toulouse, France; Académie nationale de médecine, 75000 Paris, France. Electronic address: jean-louis.montastruc@univ-tlse3.fr.
- 2 Service de pharmacologie médicale et clinique, centre Midi-Pyrénées de pharmacovigilance, pharmacoépidémiologie et informations sur le médicament, pharmacopôle Midi-Pyrénées, faculté de médecine, CHU de Toulouse, CIC Inserm 1436, 31000 Toulouse, France.
- 3 Service de médecine interne, hôpital Purpan, faculté de médecine, CHU de Toulouse, 31000 Toulouse, France.
- 4 Académie nationale de médecine, 75000 Paris, France.
Abstract
Self-medication means resorting to one or more drugs in order to treat oneself without the help of a doctor. This phenomenon is developing fast. In this review, we will discuss the main definitions of self-medication; we will then present a few important characteristics of this therapeutic practice: prevalence, reasons, populations involved and drugs used. Whilst the theoretical risks of self-medication have been abundantly discussed in the literature (adverse effects, interactions, product, dosage or treatment duration errors, difficulty in self-diagnosis, risk of addiction or abuse…), there is in fact very little detailed pharmacovigilance data concerning the characteristics and the consequences of this usage in real life. This study therefore describes the all too rare data that is available: patients, clinical characteristics, "seriousness" and drugs involved in the adverse effects of self-medication. It also discusses leads to be followed in order to minimize medication risks, which are obviously not well known and clearly not sufficiently notified.
Keywords:
Benzodiazepines; Medical adverse effects; Non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs; Painkillers; Pharmacovigilance; Risks; Self-medication.
Copyright © 2016 Société française de pharmacologie et de thérapeutique. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
MeSH terms
-
Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions / epidemiology*
-
Humans
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Pharmacovigilance*
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Risk
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Self Medication / adverse effects*