Medical Knowledge: The Essential of Causality Assessment

As drug-induced disorders now occupy an increasing place in the activities of the pharmaceutical industry and the regulators, as well as in the diagnostic process of prescribers, every practitioner should ask himself whether the occurrence of an abnormality is the consequence of the treated disease or of its treatment. This is particularly true in the domains which are the main targets of drug toxicity, such as skin, blood, and liver, but it applies to all other clinical or laboratory abnormalities as well. Therefore, a physician must be aware of the most frequent causes of abnormalities and the simplest tests to detect them. Three examples of the advantages of the medical approach for diagnosis of adverse drug reactions demonstrate that quality of information and drug causality assessment are inseparable.