Warning: Too many drug warnings can cause headaches

Look no further than the warnings on your prescription drug labels, and you'll find the side effects of defensive medicine. Published in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine, an Indiana University study of 5,600 drug labels found an average of 70 side effects per drug, with the most commonly prescribed drugs containing about 100, while others contained as many as 525. The largest number of potential drug reactions were found on the labels of antidepressants, antiviral medications, and newer treatments for restless leg syndrome and Parkinson’s disease.

ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross explains that the list of side effects is compiled such that no possible adverse reaction is left out — all in the name of defensive medicine.“A careful review of these labels by a physician who has prescribed a lot of these medications will reveal that most of the side effects are, in fact, minor and that 98 percent of them will be irrelevant to the patient," he says.“Every possibility is listed in order to protect the pharmaceutical industry from lawsuits by patients claiming they were never warned about a possible complication from a company’s drug.”

"The length of the list is not just annoying — it can obscure the real side effects, making it difficult for patients and doctors to weigh a drug’s risks against its benefits," says ACSH's Dr. Josh Bloom. “Even side effects in clinical trials found to occur equally in both placebo and treated groups will be on that list.”

Lead study author Dr. John Duke, assistant professor of medicine at the Indiana School of Medicine, observes that that modern technology could best be used to manage this “wave of drug information” by generating personalized lists of side effects that are most relevant to individual patients.