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| BOOK REVIEW |
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| Year : 2016 | Volume
: 48
| Issue : 2 | Page : 224 |
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Meyler's side effects of drugs: The international encyclopedia of adverse drug reactions and interactions
Chetna Desai
Chief Editor, n Journal of Pharmacology, Professor in Pharmacology, B. J. Medical College, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
| Date of Web Publication | 17-Mar-2016 |
Correspondence Address:
Chetna Desai
Chief Editor, Indian Journal of Pharmacology, Professor in Pharmacology, B. J. Medical College, Ahmedabad - 380 016, Gujarat
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
How to cite this article:
Desai C. Meyler's side effects of drugs: The international encyclopedia of adverse drug reactions and interactions. Indian J Pharmacol 2016;48:224 |
J. K. Aronson
Publisher: Elsevier Science (01 Dec 2015)
Edition: 16th Edition
pp: 7674
eBook ISBN: 9780444537164
Print Book ISBN: 9780444537171
The 16th edition of the exhaustive, yet comprehensive Meyler's side effects of drugs: The international encyclopedia of adverse drug reactions and interactions builds on its previous editions. First written by Leopold Meyler about 60 years ago, to provide the health professional and medical investigator with a reliable source of information about adverse drug reactions and interactions, the book has undergone many revisions. The 16th edition is a seven volume encyclopedia that provides the latest information about adverse effects and drug interactions of more than 1500 drugs. The scope of this 7000 plus page encyclopedia is wide and includes prescription drugs, nonprescription drugs, certain herbal medicines, and medical devices. Certain obsolete and banned drugs have been retained from the previous editions for their historical importance. While quality evidence about therapeutic efficacy of drugs is available from large-scale clinical trials and systematic reviews, the same cannot be said for adverse effects of these drugs. Hence, the encyclopedia uses different types and sources of information including systematic reviews, clinical trials, anecdotal case reports, reported case histories, commentaries, meta-analysis, and official statements by Government Organizations, the WHO, and the pharmaceutical manufacturers. It has an extensive bibliography with about 40,000 references, with most statements referenced to primary sources in the literature.
Separate chapters that detail the history of the development of this encyclopedia, classification of teratogenicity, adverse drug reactions, immunological reactions, and grades of adverse drug reactions and definition of terms set the pace in each volume. The adverse drug reactions are described using the EIDOS and the DoTS systems. The monographic structure of the book provides the information about the drug at one place, with cross-referencing where required. The monographs are arranged alphabetically. Each monograph includes general information about the drug, organ and systems affected by the drug, long-term effects, second-generation effects (teratogenicity and effect on lactation), relevant susceptibility factors, information on drug administration including drug dosage regimens, drug-drug and drug-food interactions, with relevant references. Methods of monitoring drug therapy in selected drugs and the economics of drug monitoring help make informed decisions about drug therapy. Separate indexes of the drug names, adverse effects and adverse reactions and drug-drug inteactions in the last volume provides ease of search for the reader. The book though has certain limitations for researchers, who may find the discussion of the research studies rather formal and limited. Inclusion of causality assessment scales, illustrations, and photographs could be of added value in future editions.
The book is a valuable resource and highly recommended for academic and research institutional libraries, hospital pharmacies, regulatory organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and pharmacologists and the Adverse Drug Monitoring Centers of the Pharmacovigilance Program of India.
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