Comparison of patient questionnaires, medical records, and plasma assays in assessing exposure to benzodiazepines in elderly subjects.

Objective: Exposure in pharmacoepidemiologic studies can rely on various sources such as medical records, patient questionnaires, or plasma samples, which do not always concur. This study endeavored to compare sources of information on current exposure to benzodiazepines in elderly subjects.

Methods: In a study in a hospital admissions department, 1136 elderly subjects included in a case-control study each completed a structured questionnaire.

Benzodiazepines and hip fractures in elderly people: case-control study.

Objective: To determine whether benzodiazepines are associated with an increased risk of hip fracture.

Design: Case-control study.

Participants: All incident cases of hip fracture not related to traffic accidents or cancer in patients over 65 years of age.

The link between sunshine and phototoxicity of sparfloxacin.

Aims: To test the association between reporting rates for sparfloxacin-induced phototoxicity and sunlight u.v. exposure, and the effects of regulatory action.

Is reporting rate a good predictor of risks associated with drugs?

Aims: Uncertainty as to relative under-reporting plagues the comparisons of spontaneous reporting rates as a tool for decision-making in pharmacovigilance. However, it is generally accepted that under-reporting should be reasonably similar for similar drugs sharing the same indication, country and period of marketing. To test this, we compared the adverse drug reaction reporting rates to the French regional pharmacovigilance centres for six pairs of identical drug marketed at the same time by different companies under different brand names (co-marketing).

Magnetic resonance imaging may be an asset to diagnose and classify fluoroquinolone-associated Achilles tendinitis.

The aim of this study was to document the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) during fluoroquinolone-associated Achilles tendinitis. Fourteen Achilles tendons were examined by MRI (T1 and T2 or T2*-weighted sequences) in nine patients with typical tendinopathy (13 cases of tendinitis and 1 rupture) during fluoroquinolone therapy. Tendinous involvement was classified according to the prominence of intra- or peritendinous changes.