[Drug-related neuropathies: analysis of the French Adverse Drug Reaction Database 1995-2005].
BACKGROUND
Drug-induced neuropathies are mainly sensory and subacute. The pathophysiological mechanisms associated with them are not clearly established and few pharmacoepidemiologic studies are available.


METHODS
This study investigated spontaneous reports of peripheral neuropathies reported to the French Adverse Drug Reaction (pharmacovigilance) database over a ten-year period.


RESULTS
Between January 1995 and April 2005, 1110 cases were reported, predominantly among men (60%). Patients' mean age was 53.6 years. Most of these reports concerned sensory neuropathies, and 538 (48%) cases were considered "serious". Neuropathies related to dermatologic drugs (mainly retinoids) were serious in 85.7% of cases. Reactions were tentatively attributed to the following pharmacological classes, in decreasing order: antiviral and antibacterial (43.6%), antineoplastic and immunosuppressant (15.9%), cardiovascular (15.9%), central nervous system (7.9%) and gastrointestinal and metabolism (4.8%) agents. Specific drugs suspected of causing neuropathies were stavudine (198 cases), didanosine (134), lamivudine (124), thalidomide (57), ritonavir (55), zalcitabine (53) and amiodarone (47). This study allowed us to consider whether 2 other drugs (allopurinol and flecainide acetate) might be related to the occurrence of neuropathies.


CONCLUSIONS
This work points out the usefulness of spontaneous reports of adverse drug reactions to regional adverse drug reaction reporting centers to help determine the relative frequency of suspected reactions to different drugs and to help detect drugs not previously known to induce these reactions.
Durrieu
Geneviève
G
Laboratoire de pharmacologie médicale et clinique, Unité de pharmacoépidémiologie, EA 3696, Université Paul-Sabatier, Faculté de Médecine, F-31000 Toulouse, France. durrieu@cict.fr
Lacroix
Isabelle
I
Olivier
Pascale
P
Sommet
Agnès
A
Sénard
Jean-Michel
JM
Montastruc
Jean-Louis
JL
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016907:Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020258:Neurotoxicity Syndromes / Q000453:epidemiology*