Antihypertensive drug use during pregnancy: a population based study.

Purpose: The study aimed at assessing if the European guideline on the use of antihypertensive drugs (AD) in pregnancy are followed in clinical practice. We also evaluated the association between the use of non-recommended drugs and individual characteristics.

Methods: This study analyzed a cohort of 86 171 singleton deliveries occurring between 2009-2010 in the Lombardy region, Italy.

Antipsychotic drug exposure and risk of pulmonary embolism: a population-based, nested case-control study.

Background: Only three observational studies investigated whether exposure to antipsychotics is associated with an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, with conflicting results. This study was therefore carried out to establish the risk of pulmonary embolism associated with antipsychotic drugs, and to ascertain the risk associated with first- and second-generation antipsychotic drugs, and with exposure to individual drugs.

Methods: We identified 84,253 adult individuals who began antipsychotic treatment in a large Italian health care system.

Safety profile of the fluoroquinolones: analysis of adverse drug reactions in relation to prescription data using four regional pharmacovigilance databases in Italy.

Background: Fluoroquinolones are widely used both in primary care and in hospital settings. Since the last comparison performed in Italy on the safety profiles of different fluoroquinolones, a new molecule, prulifloxacin, has been introduced into the market and several warnings concerning this class of drugs have been released. The aim of this study was to reassess the safety profiles of fluoroquinolones using the database of the Italian Interregional Group of Pharmacovigilance (IGP) and the administrative data of fluoroquinolone prescriptions.

Hepatic adverse drug reactions: a case/non-case study in Italy.

Objective: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) can involve all tissues and organs. Liver injuries are considered among the most serious and are a cause for concern among physicians and patients. To assess the extent of drug-induced liver injuries in Italy we compared the number of cases of hepatic ADRs with reports of all other drug-related reactions present in the same database.

Drug-induced anaphylaxis : case/non-case study based on an italian pharmacovigilance database.

Objective: To identify the number of cases of anaphylaxis reported in association with different classes of drugs and compare it with other reports contained in the same database.

Methods: The data were obtained from a database containing all of the spontaneous reports of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) coming from the Italian regions of Emilia Romagna, Lombardy and the Veneto, which are the main contributors to the Italian spontaneous surveillance system. The ADRs reported between January 1990 and December 2003 with a causality assessment of certainly, probably or possibly drug related (according to the WHO criteria) were analysed using a case/non-case design.

Adverse drug reactions related to the use of fluoroquinolone antimicrobials: an analysis of spontaneous reports and fluoroquinolone consumption data from three italian regions.

Objective: To analyse and compare with one another and with other antibacterial drugs the adverse drug reactions (ADRs) of the different fluoroquinolones currently used in Italy, spontaneously reported from doctors in three northern Italian regions.

Methods: The data on fluoroquinolones and other antibacterials were obtained from the spontaneous reporting system database of Emilia Romagna, Lombardy and the Veneto, which are the principal contributors to the Italian spontaneous surveillance system. The fluoroquinolone ADRs with a causality assessment of certain, probable or possible (according to WHO criteria), reported between January 1999 and December 2001, were selected and toxicity profiles of individual drugs were described and compared with one another.