The use of a patient monitoring service kept the haematological risks associated with using clozapine within acceptable limits, particularly in view of the benefits of this medication in treatment-resistant schizophrenia.

1. A 1 in 200 sample of the Southampton electorate were sent a postal questionnaire in January 1993. Of the 756 adults surveyed, 400 (52.9%) returned completed questionnaires. One hundred and eighty-eight (47.0%) of the respondents had been prescribed a medicine within the previous month. 2. Compared with a survey 9 years earlier, medicine taking had increased amongst men (44.1% vs 33.7% NS) and drugs acting on the respiratory system were in more widespread use (19 vs 7 patients P < 0.05). 3. Patterns of storage of medicines were almost identical to those found in 1984. However, methods of disposal were significantly different with 34% of the respondents stating that they would return left-over medicines to the Doctor or Pharmacist compared with 17% in the previous study (P < 0.01). 4. Of those taking medicines 120 (63.8%) had received a manufacturers' information leaflet. Medicines used to treat disorders of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems were most likely to be accompanied by such a leaflet (74% and 70% respectively). 5. Those who received a leaflet were almost all satisfied by it. However, patient awareness of potential side effects remained poor with only 30% being aware of any which their medicine might cause. 6. Despite improvements in attitudes towards medicine taking over time patients awareness of potential adverse effects remains limited. Further research is necessary in order to determine how best to educate patients on this topic.

1. The safety profile of terbinafine, the first orally active allylamine, was monitored in the UK in a post-marketing setting. The study recruited 10,361 patients, a number which is approximately 5% of the population who received oral terbinafine in the UK during the period of the study. 2. Follow-up data were available on 9,879 patients. During the course of the study 14.5% patients reported medical events. 49% were thought to be possibly or probably related to terbinafine treatment. Seventy-four of the events (< 1%) were classified as 'serious' and of these only five were assessed as possibly or probably related to treatment. 3. Taste disturbance occurred in 0.6% of the patients and emerged as the only new adverse reaction probably attributable to terbinafine: this was significantly commoner in females and reversible on stopping treatment, with a median time to recovery of 42 days. 4. The study approach successfully combined hospital based dermatology outpatient and general practice centres. Source data verification was conducted on 13% of the cohort selected randomly. 5. Overall, the denominator-based description of the safety profile in actual practice shows terbinafine to be well-tolerated against a wide background of age and coexisting illness.

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