Venlafaxine and asthma

Abstract

A 54-year-old man of Asian origin with major depression developed an asthma-like reaction during venlafaxine treatment. Two weeks after therapy was initiated, he experienced gradually worsening dry cough at night and periodically dyspnea during the daytime. After 5 weeks, clinical examination revealed marked signs of pulmonary obstruction and the forced expiratory volume (FEV1) was assessed to only 32% of the expected value. The venlafaxine medication was gradually decreased and eventually discontinued 9 weeks after its initiation, resulting in a successive improvement of the patient's respiratory complaints.

• Adverse drug reaction
• Asthma
• Venlafaxine

Notes

1. The data from the WHO database of adverse drug reactions was kindly provided from the WHO Collaborating Centre for International Drug Monitoring, Uppsala, Sweden. It should be noted that the information in the WHO database includes spontaneous reports on adverse drug reactions by pharmaceutical products submitted from regulatory and voluntary sources through National Centres. The information is not homogenous at least with respect to origin or likelihood that a certain pharmaceutical product causes a particular adverse reaction. Furthermore, it is underscored that the information provided from the WHO Collaborating Centre does not represent the opinion of the World Health Organisation.