Prescription drugs are increasingly causing bad reactions, according to a new study.
In the study, researchers found that more than half of adverse effects caused by a drug or device occurred in the last 10 years. Researchers studied the Food and Drug Administration starting in 1969.
The study found that between 2000 and 2010, reports of negative reactions to drugs grew by more than 11 percent each year. By 2010, those negative reports made up 55 percent of the entire database.
Many of the negative reactions occurred from drugs known as recombinant DNA products. These are used to treat autoimmune disease such as Crohns disease and rheumatoid arthritis.
"Drugs are chemicals. And you're putting something in your body. You need to know what it is, study author Dr. Sheila Weiss-Smith of the University of Maryland in Baltimore told Reuters. She recommended that everyone tell their doctors what they are taking, and try to go to one pharmacy, "so someone can keep track of all the different things," preventing negative interactions.
Weiss-Smith said the number of reports does not equal the true number of negative reactions. She added that people need to take steps to protect themselves when taking a drug.
"If something doesn't feel right, talk to your doctor, talk to your pharmacist."
