Researchers use web searches to expose unreported drug side effects

A group of researchers from the Stanford, University School of Medicine and Microsoft Research have found a way to use the internet and web searches to discover previously unreported side effects of commonly used drugs.

According to a Time magazine report, the study was able to mine anonymous data from 82 million drug-symptom and condition searches. These searches came from six million internet volunteers who agreed to let the researchers install a Microsoft plug-in that would monitor their search history for a year.

The most dramatic finding of this study is the previously unreported drug interaction between paroxetine, an anti-depressant, and pravastatin, a drug that lowers cholesterol. Theyve discovered that 10% of searches involving both paroxetine and pravastatin (implying that the searcher is using both drugs) also searched for hyperglycemia or high blood sugar; a condition that produces symptoms like chronic fatigue, blurry vision and weight loss.

But searches that involve paroxetine alone or pravastatin alone have fewer hyperglycemia-related searches (5% for paroxetine, 4% for pravastatin). This implies that searchers who take both drugs maybe experiencing drug interactions that made them more susceptible to hyperglycemia.

The team then sent their results to the US FDA, which confirmed that joint use of paroxetine and pravastatin does have this side effect.

They also looked into searches of 31 drug interactions known to cause hypoglycemia and 31 drug interactions that are known to be safe. The drug interactions known to cause hyperglycemia did produce more hyperglycemia related searches, but the searches from safe drug interactions also produced a high rate of hyperglycemia related searches.

A lot of drug and drug interaction side effects remain unreported because not all of the side effects appear within the period of safety and clinical trials. Some side effects are so rare that these symptoms only appear after millions of people have used the drug. While the FDA does have a system to help monitor for unreported side effects, they often have to rely on voluntary reports from doctors, drug companies, pharmacists and patients which can take a long time to confirm.

Patients now are more likely to report, share, and ask about drug side effects from the internet first before asking their doctor or pharmacist, which made web searches a giant treasure trove of early, unreported information on side effects. To improve the accuracy of this information, the researchers recommend combining and cross checking the information with reports from social media, patient support forums, and medical records. DVM, GMA News

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Researchers use web searches to expose unreported drug side effects