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Type A: augmented pharmacological effects, which are dose-dependent and predictable [5]; Type A reactions, which constitute approximately 80% of adverse drug reactions, are usually a consequence of the drug's primary pharmacological effect (e.g., bleeding when using the anticoagulant warfarin) or a low therapeutic index of the drug (e.g., nausea from digoxin), and they are therefore predictable.
Adverse effects, like therapeutic effects of drugs, are a function of dosage or drug levels at the target organs, so they may be avoided or decreased by means of careful and precise pharmacokinetics, the change of drug levels in the organism in function of time after administration. Adverse effects may also be caused by drug interaction. This ...
Substance use disorder (SUD) is the persistent use of drugs despite substantial harm and adverse consequences to self and others. [8] Related terms include substance use problems [9] and problematic drug or alcohol use. [10] [11] Substance use disorders vary with regard to the average age of onset. [12]
Acute toxicity is distinguished from chronic toxicity, which describes the adverse health effects from repeated exposures, often at lower levels, to a substance over a longer time period (months or years). It is widely considered unethical to use humans as test subjects for acute (or chronic) toxicity research.
In some cases the level or exposure-time may be critical, with some substances only becoming neurotoxic in certain doses or time periods. Some of the most common naturally occurring brain toxins that lead to neurotoxicity as a result of long term drug use are amyloid beta (Aβ), glutamate, dopamine, and oxygen radicals.
The Health Officers Council of British Columbia — in their 2005 policy discussion paper, A Public Health Approach to Drug Control in Canada — has adopted a public health model of psychoactive substance use that challenges the simplistic black-and-white construction of the binary (or complementary) antonyms "use" vs. "abuse". [11]
According to their data, use of alcohol and other drugs is very common in Western societies. For example, 18% of the young adults between the ages of 12–14 years old in the US have indulged in binge drinking. According to quantities in 2006, 73% of 16-year-old US students were reported having used alcohol; In Northern Europe, this is 90%.
Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. [1] Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a substructure of the organism, such as a cell (cytotoxicity) or an organ such as the liver (hepatotoxicity).