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Science

Potentially Deadly Drug Interactions Found Mining FDA Complaint Bin (arstechnica.com) 55

Thousands of people are sent to the hospital each year from adverse drug-drug interactions that are difficult to predict and even trickier to track. To get around the problem, a team of researchers (working with the journalists at The Chicago Tribune) created a computer model to create side-effect profiles for prescription drugs. Then, they mined a massive database of drug-reaction complaints sent to the Food and Drug Administration, as well as 380,000 electronic health records. The results of the analysis so far suggest that four drug combinations "including the combination of the common antibiotic, ceftriaxone, with the over-the-counter heartburn medication, Prevacid (lansoprazole) may cause a potentially fatal heart rhythm.
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Potentially Deadly Drug Interactions Found Mining FDA Complaint Bin

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  • AARRGGH (Score:4, Funny)

    by Moblaster ( 521614 ) on Saturday February 13, 2016 @02:13PM (#51501381)
    First po.... urg... heart attack!
  • to an article might be useful

    • Re:A link (Score:5, Informative)

      by llamahunter ( 830343 ) on Saturday February 13, 2016 @02:28PM (#51501477)
      http://arstechnica.com/science... [arstechnica.com] "The results of the analysis so far suggest that four drug combinations—including the combination of the common antibiotic, ceftriaxone, with the over-the-counter heartburn medication, Prevacid (lansoprazole)—may cause a potentially fatal heart rhythm." "The other problematic drug combinations that the data flagged as possibly producing the same heart problem are: cefazolin, an antibiotic, and meperidine, a pain medicine; meperidine and vancomycin, another antibiotic; and metoprolol, a blood pressure medication, and fosphenytoin, a seizure medication." Paywalled original story: http://www.chicagotribune.com/... [chicagotribune.com]
      • http://arstechnica.com/science... [arstechnica.com]

        "The other problematic drug combinations that the data flagged as possibly producing the same heart problem are: cefazolin, an antibiotic, and meperidine, a pain medicine; meperidine and vancomycin, another antibiotic; and metoprolol, a blood pressure medication, and fosphenytoin, a seizure medication."

        Son of a Bit@# /. might of saved my life, at the least added to it; till this article I took Metoprolol.

        • by Anonymous Coward

          Dude, don't stop the metoprolol... just avoid combining it with its evil twin. If you rely on /. for medical advice, all I can say is Darwin.

          • Dude, don't stop the metoprolol... just avoid combining it with its evil twin. If you rely on /. for medical advice, all I can say is Darwin.

            If one follows the links further in, it shows Metoprolol alone increases the QT level in 13% of the patients, 22% when comboded.
            http://www.chicagotribune.com/... [chicagotribune.com]

            A lengthened QT interval is a marker for the potential of ventricular tachyarrhythmias like torsades de pointes and a risk factor for sudden death.
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

            Metoprolol isn't manufactured as a QT adjuster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] in fact advised against it's use for that condition http://circep.ahajournals.org/... [ahajournals.org] (ve

  • A linky might be nice...
  • Slashdot "editor" - and I use that term loosely - BeauHD is new here. Thus we must cut him a limited amount of slack which to hang himself with...
  • by Anonymous Coward

    http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/02/potentially-deadly-drug-interactions-found-mining-fda-complaint-bin/

  • by PPH ( 736903 ) on Saturday February 13, 2016 @03:18PM (#51501763)

    Dear FDA,

    I have been prescribed this combination of drugs which I believe to be .... [Eeep! Aaack! Gurgle ........ Thud!]

  • ...the interactions claimed they thought some of the complaints might have been for them.

  • The original scientific paper can be found at http://link.springer.com/artic... [springer.com]
    and the supplementary material can be found at http://static-content.springer... [springer.com]

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