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Læknablaðið 2006; 92: 283-7

Objectives: The reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) has been in effect for more than 30 years in Iceland. Very few reports were received until a special effort was launched in 1999.

Methods: During the period 1999-2004 only 86 ADRs were reported to The Icelandic Medicines Control Agency (IMCA). During this period the special effort included the publishing of papers and memos and of numerous meetings with health care professionals in order to encourage the reporting of ADRs. The effort was initiated with a paper in The Icelandic Medical Journal in 1999 where the importance of the reporting of ADRs was explained.

Results: The reporting of ADRs started slowly with 2 reports in year 1999 and 5 reports in 2000. The number of reports was then close to 20 per year until 2004 when it rose to 26. Of the 86 reports received the majority (63%) of cases was women and only 38% of the total number of reports was serious ADRs. One patient died, eight patients had a live threatening reaction and seven had not recovered at the time of reporting. About 60% of the reports came from hospitals and health-care centers. The most commonly reported class of drugs was those acting on the central nervous system with 21 reports.

Conclusions: The number of ADR reports has been increasing during the past years and this is probably the result of a special effort that has been ongoing since year 1999. The number of reports is increasing but is still far behind that of the neighboring countries.