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I asked Dr. Lieberman the same question via NPF web page http://www.parkinson.org "ask the doctor". He says that adverse events are recorded during clinical trials for both patients taking the drug and patients taking the placebo, but no history of adverse events prior to the trials is taken. This means, using Joe Bruman's example, that if 11.6% of patients who took Permax had dyskinesia and 8% who took the placebo had dyskinesia, then there was an increase of 3.6% as a result of the Permax, and not that dyskinesia developed in 8% of those taking the placebo. This seems obvious in retrospect where dyskinesia is involved. But it wasn't clear to me to begin with. In the case of, say, 10% taking drug x and having headaches and 3% taking the placebo and having headaches, I might have thought that these percents of people in both groups developed headaches during the trials that they didn't have before. Am I the only one who misinterpreted this? If so, I'm sorry for taking up space with a dumb question. Dr. Lieberman also said that there are standard lists of adverse effect terms, but whether or not to use them is not standard. By the way, you can subscribe to the NPF "ask the doctor" and get a daily e-mail containing questions to and answers from Dr. Lieberman. Lots of info. Sometimes, however, the Dr. will include an article with his answer, making the message rather large. Phil Tompkins Hoboken NJ age 61/dx 1990