Web searches could expose new drug side effects

Scientists acknowledge that an individual's search data doesn't always reflect an accurate picture.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(TIME.com) -- Researchers looking for previously undiscovered drug side effects are turning to web searches for answers.

When drugs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration, they are vetted for potential side effects, and drug makers are required to divulge these on their products' labels. But not all side effects emerge in the short term studies that manufacturers conduct, so many only come to light when hundreds of thousands, and even millions of people start using a medication.

And what better way, a group of researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Microsoft Research decided, to suss out some of these unexpected side effects than to turn to where people are most likely to report, share and ask about them -- the internet.

The researchers combed through a year of web search history from 6 million Internet user volunteers. Using automated tools, the scientists were able to to mine anonymous data from 82 million drug-symptom and condition searches made by the participants who agreed to let the users install a Microsoft plug-in to monitor their history.

The team was rewarded with a previously unreported interaction between two commonly prescribed drugs paroxetine (Paxil), an anti-depressant, and pravastatin (Pravachol), a statin that lowers cholesterol.

About 5% of the people who searched for paroxetine also searched for a descriptor of hyperglycemia, or high blood sugar, which can trigger symptoms of blurry vision and dehydration. Less than 4% of people searching for pravastatin also searched for hyperglycemia symptoms.

However, among those who searched for both drugs -- which suggested they were taking both -- 10% typed in hyperglycemia-related searches. That hinted that users of both medications were experiencing a drug-drug interaction that previous studies had not identified, since drug approvals don't include exhaustive studies of every potential combination of drugs that patients may take.

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Web searches could expose new drug side effects