Consumers’ knowledge and experiences of adverse drug reaction reporting in Australia: a national survey

This study aimed to investigate the current knowledge and experiences of consumers in Australia on adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting and their reasons for reporting or not reporting ADRs, with a focus on the use of digital tools for ADR reporting.

A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among adults who had taken medicine in Australia. A structured questionnaire with multiple choice or Likert scale responses with an option for participants to provide free-text responses and pretested for face validity was used. Consumer characteristics, knowledge, and ADR reporting practices were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test.

A total of 544 survey responses were included in the analysis. The majority of respondents were women (68%), and 22% were aged between 65 and 74 years. Fifty-eight percent (n = 317) of respondents knew that they could report ADRs to either the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), state or territory government health department, or healthcare professionals. Three-quarters (n = 405) of respondents stated that they had experienced an ADR; of these, 36% reported an ADR to either the TGA, state or territory government health department, or healthcare professionals. Among those who reported ADRs, 58% were unaware that they could use digital tools to report ADRs. The main reason for not reporting was that they did not think the ADR was serious enough to report (39%).

Over half of consumers knew that they could report ADR; however, improved consumer awareness about using digital tools for ADR reporting and increased ADR reporting is needed.