Adverse Drug Reactions

Current · V5 (2025) → B3.i Historical · V4 (2023) → D.i 2 exam appearances

2017B Q16

Exam question

Classify and describe adverse drug reactions with examples of each

CICMWrecks answer

Master answer

Adverse Drug Reaction: An unwanted, unintended or harmful reaction as a consequence of drug administration

	Explanation	Example
A. Augmented	• Predictable • Related to pharmacological action of drug • Common	Hypoglycaemia from insulin
B. Bizarre	• Unpredicatable • Not related to pharmacological action of drug • Uncommon	Anaphylaxis to penicillin
C. Chronic	Related to cumulative dose	Suppression of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis by chronic corticosteroid use
D. Delayed	• Becomes apparent some time after use of drug • Uncommon	Carcinogenesis Teratogenesis
E. Withdrawal	Occurs on withdrawal of drug treatment	• Opioid withdrawal • Angina from β blocker withdrawal
F. Failure	Unexpected failure of drug therapy	Clopidogrel in non-metabolizers

Sakurai 2016

Answer by Sakurai

Past papers

2 appearances

Exam	Exact exam wording	Candidate success
2017B Q16	Classify and describe adverse drug reactions with examples of each	44%
2012A Q14	What is an adverse drug reaction? Classify (with drug examples) the different types.	10%