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Sex Differences in Reported Adverse Drug Reactions of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors

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Abstract

Introduction

Several studies have investigated sex as a risk factor for the occurrence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and found that women are more likely to experience ADRs than men.

Objective

The aim of this explorative study was to investigate whether differences exist in reported ADRs of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for men and women in the database of the Netherlands Pharmacovigilance Centre Lareb.

Methods

A ratio of reports concerning women and men, corrected for the number of users, was calculated for all the ADRs reported on SSRIs.

Results

We found that 16 ADRs were statistically significantly more reported in women than men, and four ADRS were reported more in men than women.

Conclusion

ADRs more reported in women than men when using SSRIs were usually dose-related ADRs or commonly occurring ADRs. Differences in the pharmacokinetics of SSRIs between men and women may explain why these reports of dose-related ADRs when using SSRIs concern women more than men.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Pharmacovigilance Centre Lareb, Goudsbloemvallei 7, 5237 MH, ’s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands

    Corine Ekhart, Florence van Hunsel, Joep Scholl & Eugene van Puijenbroek

  2. Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of Groningen, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Sieta de Vries

  3. Department of Pharmacy: Pharmacotherapy and Pharmaceutical Care, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Eugene van Puijenbroek

Authors
  1. Corine Ekhart
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  2. Florence van Hunsel
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  3. Joep Scholl
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  4. Sieta de Vries
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  5. Eugene van Puijenbroek
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Corine Ekhart.

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Funding

No sources of funding were used to assist in the preparation of this study.

Conflict of interest

Corine Ekhart, Florence van Hunsel, Joep Scholl, Sieta de Vries and Eugene van Puijenbroek declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Ekhart, C., van Hunsel, F., Scholl, J. et al. Sex Differences in Reported Adverse Drug Reactions of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors. Drug Saf 41, 677–683 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40264-018-0646-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40264-018-0646-2

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