Abstract
Objective: To investigate and compare the operation of different national spontaneous reporting schemes for adverse drug reactions.
Design: Drug safety agencies in 18 countries were contacted by letter to request information about their spontaneous reporting scheme for adverse drug reactions. This information related to the background of the scheme, operational aspects of the scheme and numbers of reports received.
Results: Replies were received from 12 countries. Many differences were found between the schemes operating in different countries. Some schemes had been in operation for over 30 years, while others were more recently established. While most schemes rely on voluntary reports, in two countries (France and Spain), reporting is a legal requirement for healthcare professionals. Reports are accepted from doctors, dentists and pharmacists in all of the countries surveyed; however the role of other health professionals and the general public was found to vary. There were also differences in the types of reactions for which reports are requested, and the products covered by the schemes. In some countries (e.g. Denmark) reports of all reactions are sought, while other countries focus on only serious reactions or reactions to newly marketed products. In Australia, there is a separate scheme for drug-induced congenital malformations and Canada, South Africa and the US run separate schemes for reactions to vaccines. However, other countries include these reactions in the general spontaneous reporting schemes. The numbers of reports received by the countries also varies considerably — from a few hundred each year in South Africa to over 20 000 in the US.
Conclusions: While the schemes all operate on the basic principle of collecting reports of adverse reactions to identify potential hazards, they showed many different approaches to the spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions. Features of one scheme may serve to improve reporting rates for another. In addition, all 12 countries participate in the World Health Organization International Drug Monitoring Programme, thus helping to inform the whole international community of drug safety problems.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Griffin JP. Survey of the spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting schemes in fifteen countries. Br J Clin Pharmacol 1986; 22: 83S–100S
Edwards IR. Spontaneous reporting: of what?: clinical concerns about drugs. Br J Clin Pharmacol 1999; 48: 138–41
McGettigan P, Feely J. Adverse drug reaction reporting: opinions and attitudes of medical practitioners in Ireland. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 1995; 4: 355–8
World Health Organization. WHO Programme [online]. Available from URL: http://www.who.pharmasoft.se/umc.html [Accessed 2000 Aug 31]
Van Boxtel CJ. Strategies for PMS of new drugs in the EC. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 1993; 2: S7–S10
World Health Organization. About UMC [online]. Available from URL: http://www.who.pharmasoft.se/umc.html [Accessed 2000 Aug 31]
Rawlins MD. Spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions. I: the data. Br J Clin Pharmacol 1988; 26: 1–5
Better ADR alerting needed in the UK. Scrip 1999; 2482: 7
Roeser HP, Rohan AP. Post-marketing surveillance of drugs. The spontaneous reporting scheme: role of the Adverse Drug Reactions Advisory Committee. Med J Aust 1990; 153: 720–6
Bem JL, Wood SM, West L, et al. 25 years of the Committee on Safety of Medicines: an international perspective of the benefits. Drug Saf 1990; 5: 161–7
‘Yellow card’ reporting now allowed for all community pharmacists. Pharm J 1999; 263: 776
Davis S, Coulson R. Community pharmacist reporting of suspected ADRs: (1) the first year of the yellow card demonstration scheme. Pharm J 1999; 263: 786–8
Royer RJ. Pharmacovigilance: the French system. Drug Saf 1990; 5Suppl. 1: 137–40
Wood SM, Coulson R. Adverse drug reactions on-line information tracking (ADROIT). Pharm Med 1993; 7: 203–13
Mann RD. Prescription event monitoring: recent progress and future horizons. Br J Clin Pharmacol 1998; 46: 195–201
Committee on Safety of Medicines, Medicines Control Agency. HIV adverse drug reactions reporting scheme. Curr Probl Pharmacovigil 1998 Mar; 24: 3
Committee on Safety of Medicines, Medicines Control Agency. A new reporting initiative for paediatric adverse drug reactions in the Trent region. Curr Probl Pharmacovigil 1999 Feb; 25: 4
Committee on Safety of Medicines. Welcome to the yellow card adverse drug reactions reporting scheme pages [online]. Available from URL: http://ftp.open.gov.uk/mca/csmhome.htm [Accessed 2000 Apr 13]
United Nations. Estimates of mid-year population 1986–1995. In: demographic yearbook 1995. New York: United Nations, 1997; 47: 152–9
Koch-Weser J, Sellers EM, Zacest R. The ambiguity of adverse drug reactions. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 1977; 11: 75–8
Wilholm BE, Olsson S, Moore N, et al. Spontaneous reporting schemes outside the United States. In: Strom BL, editor. Pharmacoepidemiology. 3rd rev. ed. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2000: 175–92
Health Canada. Adverse drug reaction reporting: 1999. Can Adverse Drug React News 2000; 10: 1
Sills JM, Tanner LA, Milstein JB. Food and drug administration monitoring of adverse drug reactions. Am J Hosp Pharm 1986; 43: 2764–70
Edwards C, Smith JM, Bateman DN, et al. Adverse drug reaction monitoring in hospitals: a study of a pharmacy (green card) monitoring scheme in the Northern region [abstract]. Pharm J 1989; 243: R48
Hall M, McCormack P, Arthurs N, et al. The spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions by nurses. Br J Clin Pharmacol 1995; 40: 173–5
Egberts TCG, Smulders M, de Konig FHP, et al. Can adverse drug reactions be detected earlier?: a comparison of reports by patients and professionals. BMJ 1996; 313: 530–1
Mitchell AS, Henry DA, Hennrikus D, et al. Adverse drug reactions: can consumers provide early warning? Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 1994; 3: 257–64
Fisher S, Bryant SG. Postmarketing surveillance: accuracy of patient drug attribution judgements. Clin Pharmacol Ther 1990; 48: 102–7
Fisher S, Bryant SG, Kent TA, et al. Patient drug attributions and postmarketing surveillance. Pharmacotherapy 1994; 14: 202–9
Kennedy DL, Goldman SA, Lillie RB. Spontaneous reporting in the United States. In: Strom BL, editor. Pharmacoepidemiology. 3rd rev. ed. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2000: 151-74
Department of Health. The expert patient: a new approach to chronic disease management for the 21st century. London: Department of Health, 2001
Inman WHW, Weber JCP. The United Kingdom. In: Inman WHW, editor. Monitoring for drug safety. 2nd ed. Lancaster: MTP, 1986: 37
Rogers AS, Israel E, Smith CR, et al. Physician knowledge, attitudes and behaviour related to reporting adverse drug events. Arch Intern Med 1988; 148: 1596–600
Randhawa HK, Smith JC, Irvin LE. Hospital doctors’ attitudes to adverse drug reactions and their reporting. Pharm J 1987; 238: 739–95
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the staff of the following pharmacovigilance agencies for their response: Adverse Drug Reactions Advisory Committee (Australia), Centre National de Pharmacovigilance (Belgium), Health Canada, Danish Medicines Agency, Agence du Medicament (France), Arzneimittelkommission der Deutschen Ärzteschaft (Germany), Irish Medicines Board, Medicines Evaluation Board (Netherlands), Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring (New Zealand), Medicines Control Council (South Africa), Centro Nacional de Farmacobiologia (Spain) and the Food and Drug Administration (US). The authors also wish to thank the Committee on Safety of Medicines (UK) and Sten Olsson of the World Health Organization. There is no conflict of interest between the authors and the drug safety agencies through funding or employment. Funding was through the Welsh School of Pharmacy.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hughes, M.L., Whittlesea, C.M.C. & Luscombe, D.K. Review of National Spontaneous Reporting Schemes. Adv Drug React Toxicol Rev 21, 231–241 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03256199
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03256199