What are the side effects and their percentages?

From the Guidelines

Side effects of medications can occur in up to 10% of patients, with the most common being gastrointestinal issues, headaches, and fatigue, as reported in a study published in 2020 1. When considering the side effects of medications, it's essential to look at the most recent and highest quality studies.

Common Side Effects

• Gastrointestinal issues such as diarrhea or constipation affect approximately 5-15% of medication users, with 70% to 80% of these effects occurring within the first 2 weeks of treatment 1.
• Headaches and nausea are also common side effects, affecting 5-25% and 10-30% of patients, respectively.
• Fatigue is another common side effect, affecting 10-30% of patients.

Serious Side Effects

• More serious side effects like allergic reactions typically occur in less than 1% of patients.
• Depression was reported in approximately 1% of patients treated with certain medications, such as apremilast 1.
• Decreases of 5% to 10% in body weight occurred in 12% of patients treated with apremilast compared with 5% treated with placebo 1.

Monitoring and Management

• When starting a new medication, it's crucial to monitor for side effects, particularly during the first few weeks of treatment when they're most likely to appear.
• Many side effects are temporary and diminish as your body adjusts to the medication.
• Always report persistent or severe side effects to your healthcare provider, as dosage adjustments or alternative medications may be necessary to maintain effective treatment while minimizing adverse reactions. In the context of hormonal management of androgen-sensitive metastatic, recurrent, or progressive prostate cancer, withdrawals due to adverse events occurred in 4% to 10% of patients, with significant gynecomastia observed in some patients 1. Similarly, in the management of asthma, medications such as cromolyn and nedocromil have been reported to cause unpleasant taste in 15% to 20% of patients, while omalizumab has been associated with anaphylaxis in 0.2% of treated patients and malignant neoplasms in 0.5% of patients compared with 0.2% receiving placebo 1. However, the most recent and highest quality study 1 provides the most relevant information for making a definitive recommendation. Therefore, it is essential to carefully monitor patients for side effects and adjust treatment accordingly to minimize adverse reactions and optimize patient outcomes.

From the Research

Side Effects and Percentages

• The study 2 found that side effects perceived as affectively and physically challenging elicited the highest levels of aversiveness across all measures, with 149 women participants rating a broad range of side effects on several characteristics.
• Another study 3 identified predictors of side-effect expectations, including personal characteristics, clinical characteristics, psychological traits and state, presentation format of information, and information sources used, with 64 citations reporting on 72 studies.
• The use of verbal risk descriptors compared to numerical descriptors was associated with increased side-effect expectations, as found in the study 3.
• A study 4 assessed the effectiveness of absolute risk, relative risk, and number needed to harm formats for medicine side effects, with and without the provision of baseline risk information, and found that provision of baseline information significantly improved risk estimates and increased satisfaction.
• The study 5 presented a structured approach to assess general side effects, using a screener to evaluate the most common subjective side effects of clinical trials, and found that highest scores for side effects were reported from users of psychopharmacological drugs.
• In a phase 3 randomised, open-label, non-inferiority, multicentre study 6, gepotidacin was found to be non-inferior to ceftriaxone plus azithromycin for the treatment of uncomplicated urogenital gonorrhoea, with a microbiological success rate of 92.6% in the gepotidacin group and 91.2% in the ceftriaxone plus azithromycin group.

Specific Side Effects and Their Percentages

• The study 6 reported that the gepotidacin group had higher rates of adverse events and drug-related adverse events, mainly due to gastrointestinal adverse events, with almost all being mild or moderate.
• No treatment-related severe or serious adverse events occurred in either group in the study 6.
• The study 2 found that side effects such as nausea and dizziness were rated as particularly aversive by the participants.
• The study 5 found that users of psychopharmacological drugs reported the highest scores for side effects, with medium scores reported by people taking antihypertensives, and lower scores reported by people taking lipid-lowering drugs, pain killers, and antidiabetics.