COMPUTER-ASSISTED EVALUATION OF ADVERSE EVENTS USING A BAYESIAN-APPROACH

The differential diagnosis of idiosyncratic adverse drug reactions (AD Rs) is complex because for each adverse event there are many possible drug and nondrug causes. Recently efforts have been made to computeriz e causality assessment methods. A new computerized, user-friendly diag nostic aid for Bayesian assessment of adverse drug events (MacBARDI-Q& A) is described. This computer program performs a differential diagnos is on cutaneous reactions suspected of being drug-induced. The authors ' results indicate that development of a valid, simple and user-friend ly computerized procedure for evaluating adverse drug events is possib le. The ongoing development and application of MacBARDI-Q&A and other similar programs should improve the evaluation of putative adverse dru g reactions.