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Table 2 Post-marketing withdrawal of medicinal products because of adverse drug reactions in different continents

From: Post-marketing withdrawal of 462 medicinal products because of adverse drug reactions: a systematic review of the world literature

Continent

No. of countries

Total population (millions)

No. of withdrawn products

Rate of withdrawals/million population

Rates of withdrawal/country

RR of withdrawal per country versus Africa (95 % CI)a

a P value versus Africa

Africa

54

1111

63

0.06

1.17

–

–

Asia

46

4427

150

0.03

3.26

1.42 (1.18–1.71)

0.001

Australasia & Oceania

11

30

32

1.07

2.91

1.38 (1.08–1.76)

0.045

Europe

50

742.5

309

0.42

6.18

1.60 (1.34–1.90)

<0.0005

N. America

23

528.7

134

0.25

5.83

1.59 ( 1.32–1.90)

<0.0005

S. America

12

387.5

65

0.17

5.42

1.57 (1.29–1.90)

<0.0005

  1. aThe P values have been corrected for multiple tests using the Bonferroni method. The relative rates of withdrawal are calculated based on the assumption that if a medicinal product was withdrawn in one country, it should also have been withdrawn in all countries in that continent. The data for total populations are obtained from the 2013 World Population Data Sheet (http://www.prb.org/pdf13/2013-WPDS-infographic_MED.pdf). This analysis excludes 43 medicinal products withdrawn worldwide