[Reporting of adverse drug reactions by primary care physicians]

To study the contribution of Primary Care doctors to the understanding of adverse side-effects to drugs, through publication in the medical bibliography of cases of cough produced by Angiotensin-Converting-Enzyme (ACE) inhibitors.

A retrospective observation study.

The articles found in a bibliographic search through the data bases MEDLINE, Excerpta Medica and Indice Médico Español, all in CD-ROM, for the period 1982-1991. The notifications found of cases relating to cough produced by ACE inhibitors were evaluated through a minimum information data questionnaire.

A minimum information questionnaire was used. 119 cases of patients were found in 53 articles. The average of authors and references per article was 2.88 and 8.54, respectively. The most frequent type of article was the letter, with Enalapril being the drug responsible for the cough in the majority of cases. All the articles studied included data from at least 6 of the minimum information items, the most common being: age, gender, dosage, reason for prescription, remission of the adverse reaction on stopping the medication and information on previous publications. Primary Care authors contributed more information in their articles than those authors who did not come from Primary Care. There is a statistically significant difference (p < 0.005) in the information items which refer to information on the presence of other illnesses and to the study of other pathological processes.

The Primary Care authors published less cases of cough caused by ACE inhibitors, although their quality is similar to those from other sources. The information contributed which can be considered minimum was superior to that reviewed in previous studies.