Uncovering the potential risk of serotonin toxicity in Australian veterans using pharmaceutical claims data

WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECTSerotonin toxicity is greatly increased by the co-prescribing of serotonergic agents.Serotonin toxicity varies greatly in severity from mild to potentially life-threatening, however even mild cases can impair quality of life, especially for older people, by causing agitation and sleep disturbance. Combinations including MAOI are most likely to cause severe toxicity.Few studies have used pharmaceutical claims data to quantify the use of serotonergic medicines in combination

Toenails and agranulocytosis

The objective of this article was the study of 12 cases of granulocytopenia associated with terbinafine use in Australia, the most recent, with agranulocytosis, which is described in detail. The mean age of the participants was 64 years (range 35-79 years). Sex was reported in 11 patients and all but one was a woman. Time to onset of neutropenia/agranulocytosis was 4-5 weeks in most cases. Neutropenia was typically severe with neutrophil count