Introduction:

negative outcomes associated with medication (NOM), including adverse drug reactions (ADRs) or safety problems, are a relevant clinical problem due to their high incidence and harmful effects on health. A drug could be considered a tracer / marker because of: 1) an increased likelihood of causing ADR or safety problems; or 2) its use to treat and therefore identify patients with ADR. Tracer drug listings could be useful in pharmacological safety or pharmacotherapeutic monitoring programs.

Objective:

the objective of this study was to structure a list of drug tracer / markers of the patients with the highest risk of presenting NOM, which could be useful to select patients for FFT or pharmacological safety programs.

Data collection:

initially, a structured review was performed in PubMed / Medline to identify drugs associated with the presentation of ADRs classified as severe or moderate and with a prevalence of 10% or greater. Subsequently, the list of identified medications was compared and complemented with high alert medications of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) and medications used to treat ADRs or antidotes.

Results:

a general listing of 139 drug tracers / markers was generated.

Conclusions:

this listing could be a tool to detect and select the patients who could most benefit from the FTS or pharmacological safety programs. Studies designed to evaluate the practical usefulness of this listing are required.