The role of general practitioner in the study of adverse drug reactions epidemiology in ambulatory care setting

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) cause considerable mortality and morbidity. Its importance becomes greater in relation to the current increase in the use of drugs and multimorbidity. Premarketing studies do not allow a complete knowledge of the safety of a medicine. Many ADRs occurring in the outpatient setting, but there is a significant lack of information regarding the epidemiology of ADRs in this level of health care. Thus, guidance on how to direct attention to effective targets for improvement of medication safety in ambulatory care settings is missing. In this scenario, the general practitioner (GP) is in a rare, special position in the health system, which allows him to combine the clinical tasks of diagnosis and treatment on individuals with epidemiological and public health tasks on communities, including a important role in the study of ADRs’s epidemiology.