Detecting adverse drug reactions - a concise updateI. Cohort and case control studies

Editorial Note:In the three decades which have passed since the need for more thorough studies of the side effects of pharmaceuticals was thrown into sharp profile by the thalidomide disaster, much has changed in the way in which these unwanted effects of drugs are approached and the extent to which they are understood. The three papers which follow in this issue open a series which seeks to provide a concise update of each of the principal methods which underlie the science and art of adverse reaction study. The papers were presented at a closed meeting jointly organized by the European Regional Office of the World Health Organization and the W.H.O. Collaborating Centre for Public Health Research, Kiel, Germany, on 26-29 November 1990, under the Chairmanship of Prof. Fritz Beske. The series will continue in future issues of the Journal.