Side effects from Rx drugs have very different consequences for men and women

Some shocking new data was just released about adverse drug reactions. And it’s straight from the FDA.

Data released by the agency discloses there were some 3.5 million bad drug reactions from 2004 to 2013!

And those figures may be just the tip of the iceberg. “There’s likely many more adverse events occurring than you get from this database,” noted Dr. Michael Carome of Public Citizen.

But here’s the really scary part of those numbers.

According to the data, death ranked as the ninth most common reaction for women. But for men it was No. 1.

That’s right — the number one adverse reaction men suffer from drugs is dying.

Of the bad reactions reported, women experienced far more — about 2 million compared to just 1.3 million for men.

Of course it could be that guys are less likely to complain.

Regardless of the reason, 3.5 million adverse events — including a lot of deaths — is insane, especially when people are taking drugs the FDA has deemed “safe when used as directed.”

Sources:

“Bad medicine: The awful drug reactions Americans report” Dan Keating and Jason Millman, June 7, 2014, The Washington Post, washingtonpost.com