Checklist for drug points

We ask reviewers to check that these reports of adverse drug events include:

• Age and sex of patients
• Suspected drug and all drugs currently being taken with start, stop, and restart dates; and outcome. Generally something more than simple coincidence in time is required: rechallenge with the patient’s informed consent, or immunological investigations may tip the balance of probabilities
• Prior experience with drug or adverse reactions to related drugs
• Other diseases and environmental factors and their timing
• Ancillary information from pharmaceutical company and regulatory agency
• All published reports
• Other factors relevant to verify specific types of adverse drug reactions (for example, blood concentration in overdose, baseline laboratory data, ethnic group)