Different indications, warnings and precautions, and contraindications for the same drug--an international comparison of prescribing information for commonly used psychiatric drugs.

Purpose: We aim to derive an internationally applicable data set to improve prescription safety of psychiatric drugs.
Methods: We performed an in-depth analysis of the concordance of prescribing information of 10 key psychiatric drugs across four major drug markets with regard to indications, warnings and precautions, and contraindications.
Results: The individual prescribing information covered on average 71.4 ± 30.3% of all named indications, 59.5 ± 17.1% of all potential warnings and precautions and 70.1 ± 24.4% of all applicable contraindications.
Conclusion: This substantial variation in key prescribing information across countries highlights the need for a better international cooperation and standardization of prescribing information.
(Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)