Use of an entacapone-containing drug combination and risk of death: Analysis of the FDA AERS (FAERS) database

To assess the signal of death associated with the use of an entacapone-containing drug combination in the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database.Reports of death events submitted between January 2004 and December 2010 were retrieved and analysed by the reporting odds ratio (ROR). The ROR of case/non-case reports of death associated with an entacapone-containing drug combination was compared with the levodopa/carbidopa combination using the FDA AERS database.Eighty-seven reports linked the entacapone-containing drug combination to death, compared to 27 reports of death linking the levodopa/carbidopa combination. The ROR was statistically significant for the association between deaths with the use of an entacapone-containing drug combination (1.86 95% CI 1.50–2.31]). In contrast, the ROR of death associated with the combination of levodopa and carbidopa was not statistically significant (0.89 95% CI 0.61–1.30)].Based on analysing reports in the FAERS database, there is a risk of death with the use of an entacapone-containing drug combination. These results generated a signal of death with the use of this drug. However, epidemiological studies are required to confirm this association.