Drug safety in special populations: current data from the AMSP Project

The AMSP program (Arzneimittelsicherheit in der Psychiatrie; Drug Safety in Psychiatry) was established in 1993 with the aim of continuously improvement of drug safety and risk management in psychiatry. It is an ongoing observational drug surveillance program in hospitals that assesses severe adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in psychiatric inpatients in routine clinical treatment. Additionally, pharmacoepidemiological data on psychotropic drug use along with psychiatric diagnoses, age, and sex of surveilled patients is gathered on two index dates per year.

All data are derived from the AMSP database. The drug utilization data with special emphasis on sex differences comprise 44,418 psychiatric inpatients with major depressive disorder (MDD) between 2001 and 2017. The age-dependent utilization data to examine the influence of patient’s age on the selection and dosage of antipsychotic drugs (APDs) used in the treatment of schizophrenia include 32,062 inpatients with schizophrenia between 2000 and 2017.

We identified several sex-related differences in the treatment of MDD with monotherapy being more common among male patients and women found to be more likely to take ≥ 4 psychotropic drugs.

The AMSP data examining APD selection and dosage related to patient’s age showed that the selection of APDs changed with age with some APDs (e.g., risperidone, pipamperone) used more frequently than others (e.g., clozapine, olanzapine) in the elderly.

Publication History

Article published online:
12 March 2024