Abstract

The Side Effects of Drugs Annual was first published in 1977. It has been published continuously since then, as a yearly update to the encyclopaedic volume Meyler's Side Effects of Drugs. Each new Annual provides clinicians and medical investigators with a reliable and critical yearly survey of new data and trends in the area of Adverse Drug Reactions and Interactions.

An international team of specialists have contributed to the Annuals by selecting critically from each year's publications all that is truly new and informative, by critically interpreting it, and by pointing out whatever is misleading. The use of the book is enhanced by separate indexes, allowing the reader to enter the text via the drug name, adverse effect, or drug interaction.

Special features of the Annuals are the Side Effects of Drugs Essay, usually written by a guest author, and the special reviews: short articles, within the different chapters, that give extra attention to topics of current interest.

The Essay in Annual 26 is entitled 'How safe is cannabis?' (by Professor L.L. Iversen) and there is a Historical Essay entitled 'From thalidomide to pharmacovigilance: a personal account' (by Professor D.J. Finney).

The special reviews in this volume include, among others:

• The cognitive effects of Ecstasy


• Antipsychotic drugs and weight gain


• Vigabatrin-related visual abnormalities


• Managing the adverse effects of morphine


• The cardiotoxic effects of antihistamines


• Inhaled corticosteroids and growth inhibition in children


• Bioterrorism and its prevention through immunization
  

S. Mitchell
...The book is easy to read, printed on good quality paper, contains a wealth of references of primary literature sources and quotes many clinical cases of adverse drug reactions. The provision of two separate indices, one concerned with drug names and one with adverse reactions facilitate a thorough interrogation of the book. A cumulative index, from volumes 16-25, of special reviews is also interesting. These yearly volumes are essential texts if one wishes to keep up-to-date with this ever-expanding and important field.
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