Monitoring Adverse Drug Reactions Using a State Poison Control Center Data Base

Abstract

We report a preliminary investigation of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in poison control center data. The New Jersey Poison Information and Education System maintains a toll-free telephone line providing information on the effects of potentially toxic substances and how to counteract them. Information on each incoming call becomes part of a permanent, ongoing data base containing many variables, including product, patient age, and location. Serious events are followed up.

Serious drug-related poisonings are commonly pediatric accidents, or suicide attempts in young adults. Nonetheless, 143 calls in a 6-month period were classified as adverse effects of medications, probably an underestimate of the true numbers of ADR calls. We describe several situations in which adverse effects are likely to be captured in records of a poison control center and give examples of cases representing new adverse drug reactions that were reported by the poison center to the Food and Drug Administration.