In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study investigates the potential correlation between the increased use of antipsychotic medications and the rising incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE). As psychiatric disorders surged, the consequential escalation in antipsychotic drug use raised concerns about thrombotic risks. We conducted a comprehensive literature review using PubMed, focusing on articles that intersected COVID-19, antipsychotic medication, and thrombosis. This approach allowed for a nuanced examination of the historical and recent data on antipsychotic drugs and their association with thrombotic events. Our findings reveal a notable link between the use of antipsychotic medications, particularly second-generation antipsychotics, and an increased risk of VTE, including pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis. This association was evident, despite variations in study designs and populations. The study underscores the need for cautious medication management in psychiatric care, especially during pandemic conditions like COVID-19, to mitigate thrombotic risks. It advocates a personalized approach to prescribing antipsychotics, considering individual patient factors and comorbidities, to balance the benefits against potential thrombotic complications.

With multimorbidity on the rise, adverse cutaneous drug reactions are becoming a daily challenge in clinical practice. The objective evaluation of the skin lesion is crucial but hardly realized due to missing technology and guidelines. In this study, the novel Dermus SkinScanner-U, an optically guided high-frequency ultrasound imaging device, was evaluated regarding its comparability with the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and the pharmacological analysis of the patients’ drug therapy. A total of 40 adult patients were evaluated, all with chronic medication use and skin lesions that led to non-compliance toward the pharmacotherapy. With the ongoing aim of further improving the methodology, the first results, with two detailed patient cases, are presented here. It was concluded that in the cases evaluated, there was a significant correlation between the characteristics of the lesions observed on the optical and ultrasound image, the DLQI score, and the pharmacological analysis. The next steps include increasing the scale of the study to ultimately develop a quality-assured methodology for the correct diagnosis of skin-related adverse drug reactions and to prepare a database with the most frequently observed events.

Background: The widespread availability of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines supports self-care but also requires users to recognize medication-related risks and make safe decisions without direct professional supervision. Existing studies have often examined medication literacy, self-medication, or pharmacovigilance separately. To address this gap, we developed a questionnaire within the conceptual framework of OTC medication risk literacy to explore scenario-based OTC medicine risk recognition, self-assessed confidence, self-reported safety behaviours, information-seeking practices, and pharmacovigilance awareness among respondents recruited through an online survey in Romania. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted using an anonymous Google Forms questionnaire. Data were collected between June–July 2026. The questionnaire included scenario-based items addressing common OTC medicine risks, self-assessed confidence in medication-related decision-making, self-reported safety behaviours, information sources, chronic disease and medicine use, adverse effect experience, reporting behaviour, and pharmacovigilance awareness. Associations were evaluated using chi-square tests, effect-size measures, and multivariable regression analyses. Results: A total of 423 respondents completed the survey. Recognition of major medication-safety risks was high for persistent symptoms requiring medical evaluation (96.5%), severe allergic reactions (95.7%), severe cutaneous adverse effects (96.2%), OTC medicine use during pregnancy (95.7%), antibiotic misuse (89.8%), and contraindications associated with chronic disease or anticoagulant therapy (91.7–92.7%). In contrast, recognition was lower for the antihistamine–alcohol interaction scenario, for which only 53.9% selected the safest response. Confidence was highest for understanding information provided on medicine packaging and patient information leaflets, whereas lower confidence was reported for recognising unsafe medicine combinations and contraindications. Most respondents reported reading medicine packaging and following recommended dosage instructions. Doctors (69.0%), pharmacists (61.2%), and patient information leaflets (56.3%) were the most used information sources. Pharmacovigilance awareness was limited, although 45.1% of respondents agreed that they knew how to report a suspected adverse effect, 35.0% disagreed and 52.3% of eligible respondents reported having previously submitted a suspected adverse effect report. Healthcare background remained independently associated with higher recognition and confidence scores after adjustment. Conclusions: In this online convenience sample, respondents generally recognized major OTC medicine safety risks in structured scenarios and reported several safe-use behaviours, but practical gaps remained in interaction recognition, complex risk assessment, and pharmacovigilance awareness. The findings should be interpreted as exploratory and not as representative national estimates. Scenario-based assessment may help identify educational priorities, while pharmacist counselling, clearer information, and pharmacovigilance education remain plausible strategies that require further evaluation.

Background: Safe self-medication with over-the-counter (OTC) medicines requires identification of active substances, recognition of clinically relevant interacting exposures, and awareness of when continued self-treatment is no longer appropriate. Whether self-reported safety behaviours correspond to recognition of the pharmacological risks they are intended to prevent remains insufficiently understood. Objective: To examine respondent-level correspondence between self-reported OTC safety behaviours and recognition of conceptually related pharmacological risks among adults without healthcare training, and to translate the observed patterns into a clinical-pharmacology framework for safer self-medication. Methods: An exploratory secondary analysis was performed using data from a Romanian cross-sectional study of OTC medication risk literacy. The analysis included 206 respondents without a healthcare background. Five conceptually matched knowledge-behaviour comparisons were examined across active-substance duplication, interaction-related risks, and the boundary of self-treatment. Associations were assessed using odds ratios (ORs), 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and two-sided Fisher’s exact tests, with Holm adjustment for multiple comparisons. Results: Reported safety behaviour did not invariably correspond to recognition of the related pharmacological risk. Among 143 respondents reporting consistent active-ingredient checking, 22 (15.4%) failed to recognise duplicate paracetamol exposure; recognition was associated with ingredient checking (OR 2.95, 95% CI 1.48-5.88; p = 0.003). Among 143 respondents reporting routine interaction checking, discordance was 14 (9.8%) for the anticoagulant-related scenario, 25 (17.5%) for herbal products and dietary supplements, and 87 (60.8%) for antihistamine-alcohol use. Correspondence was greater for the boundary of self-treatment: only seven (4.3%) of 162 respondents reporting avoidance of prolonged OTC use despite persistent symptoms failed to recognise the need for professional evaluation. Following Holm correction, only the active-substance duplication association remained statistically significant. Conclusions: Self-reported OTC safety behaviours should not be assumed to represent successful application of the underlying pharmacological reasoning. Correspondence was domain-dependent and appeared less consistent for risks requiring identification and interpretation of pharmacological exposures than for persistent symptoms requiring evaluation. These findings support making the pharmacological reasoning underlying OTC safety recommendations more explicit and informed the proposal of a clinical-pharmacology framework for future OTC safety communication.