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Patient expectations and awareness of information regarding adverse reactions in drug labelling in China

  • Research Article
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Abstract

Background The misunderstanding of adverse drug reaction labelling information is not conducive to the rational use of drugs. There has been no research on how doctors can effectively transmit information on adverse drug reactions to patients in China. Objective To assess how well patients understand the adverse reactions presented in the labelling of drugs and how much information they want from their doctor regarding the adverse reactions. Setting The study was conducted in secondary medical institutions, tertiary medical institutions and community healthcare centres in Shanghai. Method A cross-sectional self-administered survey was conducted from November 2018 to March 2019. Mixed methods involving paper questionnaires and online surveys (scan a QR code by the WeChat app) were used. Main outcome measure Participants’ demand for adverse reaction information. Results A total of 295 people completed the questionnaires, of which 31.8% of people thought that the greater the number of adverse reactions listed on the label of a drug, the more insecure they felt about that drug. At the same time, 30.13% of people thought that if the adverse reactions listed on a label were undefined, then the drug was safe for use (for example, some Chinese patent medicines). Most of the respondents (45.4%) thought that it was better to give a brief description of possible adverse reactions and to answer patients’ questions in detail only if necessary. Conclusions Most patients wanted doctors to give them a brief introduction to serious and common adverse reactions when they prescribed drugs, and only a small percentage of people wanted to obtain all the information about adverse reactions. It was found that many people misunderstood the contents of the adverse reactions provided on the labels and equated the number of adverse reactions with drug safety.

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Abbreviations

ADRs:

Adverse drug reactions

QR:

Quick response

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the patients who agreed to participate in this study for their time.

Funding

This work was funded by the Shanghai “Rising Stars of Medical Talent” Youth Medical Talents-Clinical Pharmacist Program. The funding bodies played no role in the study design, data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation or manuscript preparation and submission.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacy, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China

    Weixia Zhang, Hefeng Chen, Jingjing Huang & Beiming Xu

  2. Dapuqiao Community Healthcare Center, Huangpu District, Shanghai, China

    Jing Zhang & Renji Ma

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  1. Weixia Zhang
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  2. Jing Zhang
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  3. Renji Ma
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  4. Hefeng Chen
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Correspondence to Weixia Zhang.

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Zhang, W., Zhang, J., Ma, R. et al. Patient expectations and awareness of information regarding adverse reactions in drug labelling in China. Int J Clin Pharm 43, 174–180 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-020-01127-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-020-01127-9

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