ABACUS (Alerts Based on ADR Causality and Severity)
Causality
| No. | Question | Yes | No | Unknown | N.A. |
| 1 | Is there a reasonable time interval between administration of the suspected drug and the adverse reaction?
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| 2 | Has the adverse reaction been associated with the suspected drug before?
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| 3 | Could this adverse reaction be due to an existing clinical condition?
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| 4 | Is there any over-dose of the suspected drug?
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| 5 | If the drug was discontinued, did the adverse reaction improve within a reasonable period of time?
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| 6 | If the drug was NOT discontinued, did the reaction resolved on its own?
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| 7 | Did the reaction improve when specific antagonist/antidote towards the suspected drug was administered?
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| 8 | Did the adverse reaction recur when the suspected drug was discontinued and re-administered?
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| Probability: | |||||
Severity
| Severity category | Question | |
| S1 | Offending drug may or may not be withheld, no treatment required | |
| S2 | Offending drug to be withheld, out-patient treatment is required | |
| S3 | Offending drug to be withheld, in-patient treatment is required | |
| S4 | Intensive care is required but patient does not suffer any disability | |
| S5 | Patient suffer irreversible harm (including physical disability) | |
| S6 | Patient died as a result of the reaction (either directly or indirectly) |
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ABACUS was developed in collaboration with Professor Shu-Chuen Li from University of Newcastle, Australia and Dr Yvonne Koh from National University of Singapore.
Please cite using: Koh Y, Yap CW, Li SC (2010). Development of a combined system for identification and classification of adverse drug reactions: Alerts Based on ADRs' Causality and Severity (ABACUS). Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association 17 (6): 720-722
Last modified on 7 February, 2012 by Yap Chun Wei