[Acute hepatitis associated with Colpachi intake. Apropros of 5 cases].

The use of herbal medicines believed to have therapeutic properties is becoming increasingly widespread. These medicines are usually taken by patients on their own initiative and physicians are often unaware of which patients are taking these substances. Herbal medicines can be taken in the form of teas, powders, and liquid extracts.

Antidepressants and risk of upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are nowadays the most widely used antidepressants in the world, mainly because they have a better adverse reaction profile and a higher safety margin in overdoses, when compared to other antidepressants. These drugs recently have been the target of important debates concerning safety issues, among them the possibility that they may increase the risk of bleeding. Over the 1990s, an increasing number of individual cases of bleeding disorders were reported in the literature and to the pharmacovigilance programmes which prompted several epidemiological and pharmacological studies.

Acute and clinically relevant drug-induced liver injury: a population based case-control study.

Aims: To provide quantitative information about the absolute and relative risks of acute and clinically relevant drug-induced liver injury.

Methods: We performed a population-based case-control study using the UK-based General Practice Research Database as the source of information. A total of 1,636,792 persons subjects aged 5-75 years old registered in the database from 1 January, 1994 to 31 December, 1999 were followed-up for a total of 5,404,705 person-years.

Use of antipsychotic agents in Spain through 1985-2000.

Objective: To analyze the trend of antipsychotic drug consumption in Spain from 1985 to 2000, and the impact of atypical antipsychotics on the overall consumption and on clozapine use.

Methods: Data on antipsychotic consumption were drawn from the ECOM database of the Spanish Ministry of Health, which contains the retail community pharmacies sales of medicinal products reimbursed by the National Health System. Data are presented as defined daily doses (DDDs) per 1000 inhabitants per day, for each year.