adverse effect
Unwanted treatment consequence
An adverse effect is an unintended harmful outcome resulting from a treatment, medication, or intervention.
The term appears most frequently in medical and pharmaceutical contexts, where it describes negative reactions to drugs or therapies: The patient experienced adverse effects including nausea and dizziness.
Unlike side effects, which may be neutral or even beneficial, adverse effects are specifically unwanted and potentially dangerous.
Regulatory agencies require disclosure of known adverse effects on drug labels.
- consequenceResult of an action
- black box warningStrictest drug label caution
- package insertMedication's official documentation
- fine printMiniature contractual text
- harmInjury or damage
bad reaction · stomach upset · liver damage · toxicity · complication · drug interaction · medical error · risk factor · contraindication · ADR · drug recall · chemical sensitivity · overdose · off-label use · allergic reaction · patient safety · unwanted · symptom
- effectsconsequence, result, special effects, outcome, sound effects
- Drug Propertiesbioavailability, half-life, potency, efficacy, toxicity
- negativesno, not, never, none, nothing
adverse effecttherapeutic effect
Health improvement from treatment
benefit · improvement · gain · boon · enhancement
effect, adverse, avert, adversity, aversion, averse, averted, advert, effectual