Objective psychological measurement and clinical assessment of anxiety in adverse drug reactions.

Background: A confounding factor in the diagnosis of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is the psychological state of the patient. Patients with underlying anxiety and related disorders may present with psychogenic reactions, which involve physiologic responses originating from psychological, rather than organic factors.

Objective: To examine the contribution of anxiety and related disorders to adverse drug events.

Monitoring adverse drug reactions to sulfonamide antibiotics in human immunodeficiency virus-infected individuals.

Patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are at higher risk for adverse drug reactions from trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) than the HIV-negative population. Studying the HIV-positive population the authors aimed to validate the predictive and diagnostic value of the lymphocyte toxicity assay (LTA) for adverse drug reactions. Patient lymphocytes were analyzed for toxicity to SMX and TMP.