RESUMO
The magnitude of the problem of adverse reactions to drugs, local and abroad has been described. Our problems are those arising from multiple foreign sources having their own set of standards from which we rely heavily. It has been pointed out that these standards may not be applicable to our situation here. The setting up of an agency responsible for standardization has been hampered by lack of facilities and personnel; consequently no such studies on the extent of the problem of adverse reactions to drugs had been done locally. The need, therefore of a local study to determine the risk of adverse drug reactions among Filipinos and to identify factors that predispose patients to such risks is wanting. A method to study the risk of adverse drug reactions has been developed to study incidence among patients in a general hospital. In proposing such a method, the investigators draw heavily from the studies done in the United States and in England. However, in the design, particular attention was given not only to the local but also to the hospital conditions. In order to facilitate study, classification of cases and definitions of terms were made and adopted from those set up by the studies of Seidi and Hurwitz. (Summary)