Kiran Ibrahim

Since their discovery in the 1960s, fluoroquinolone antibiotics have become increasingly popular antimicrobials for moderate to severe infections and are on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines. Fluoroquinolone antibiotics are known to cause very rare but severe adverse reactions that have only recently received attention from regulatory agencies. Warnings and legal restrictions are now in place across the US and Europe, but these antibiotics are still very popular in low- and middle-income countries. The decision to restrict these drugs in high-income countries was not based on large-scale quantitative analyses that might support action in other settings. These projects aim to describe sociodemographic and time trends of fluoroquinolone antibiotics and their associated adverse drug events (ADEs) in UK primary care.

1.    A systematic review of fluoroquinolone antibiotic treatment and adverse neuropsychiatric health outcomes

2.    A 20-year descriptive study of sociodemographic time trends in fluoroquinolone antibiotic prescriptions in the UK: a population-based cohort study using electronic health records.

3.    Fluoroquinolone antibiotic treatment and adverse neuropsychiatric health outcomes in young people: a population-based cohort study using electronic health records.

4.    The impact of regulatory decisions on fluoroquinolone antibiotics in high-income countries on prescription rates in low- and middle-income countries.