Some ethnic groups more susceptible to drug reactions

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

According to a new study, response to certain drugs may depend on ethnic origins.
Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are known to be an important cause of both ill health and death. A team at the City Hospital in Birmingham, UK, now reports on some of the underlying factors influencing ADRs. They found 24 studies that included data for ADRs to cardiovascular drugs for at least two ethnic groups.

A reaction called anti-oedema - a type of swelling - in response to blood pressure lowering drugs proved to be three times greater among black patients than among non-black patients. The risk of cough was three times higher in East Asian patients compared with white patients.

When it came to clot-busting therapy, the risk of bleeding went up 1.5 times in black patients compared with non-black patients. This information should help doctors when thinking about appropriate prescribing of heart drugs to individual patients.

Source
BMJ Online First 4th May 2006