Dextrose combination (20 ingredients) side effects: what 398 FDA adverse event reports show
Drug class
Not stated in label
Who reports
398 reports · 99% serious · 75 with death outcome · 48% female
Used for
Dextrose Injection (5%) is indicated as a source of water and calories in adult and pediatric patients, and may also be used as a diluent for reconstitution of a powder or liquid drug product. Dextrose Injection (5%) is indicated as a source of water and calories in adult and pediatric patients, and may also be used as a diluent for reconstitution of a powder or liquid drug product. ( 1 )
What it is
Dextrose Injection USP (5%) is a sterile, nonpyrogenic, and isotonic solution and contains no bacteriostatic or antimicrobial agents. This product is intended for intravenous administration. The formula of the active ingredient is: Ingredient Molecular Formula Molecular Weight Hydrous Dextrose USP 198.17
Boxed warning
None in the current label
Causality screen of the 9 strongest signals
What the badges mean
- Not in label — unassessed Not found in the label text, not an artifact pattern. This is a genuine candidate for a formal causality assessment (Bradford Hill / WHO-UMC); it has NOT had one here.
Strongest disproportionality signals
Flagged terms (PRR ≥ 2, χ² ≥ 4, n ≥ 10), ranked by PRR; infinite PRRs (no comparator reports) excluded. The EBGM column is a second, shrinkage-based estimate (MGPS) with its 5th percentile EB05 and the BCPNN IC025; a pair flagged by PRR alone is marked PRR-only and should be read as fragile. The strata column recomputes the PRR on serious reports only and flags pairs whose reports are unusually skewed by sex or come mostly from consumers rather than clinicians. 1 further terms are in the interactive explorer. Reaction links open the term's cross-drug page.
| Reaction | Reports | PRR 95% CI · ROR · χ²/p | EBGM EB05 · IC025 | Label screen | Serious-only & strata | Trial cross-check |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hepatic cytolysis | 11 | 47.3 26.4–84.8ROR 48.7 · χ² 454 / p 6e-101 | 44.0 EB05 26.2 · IC025 +2.9 3/3 methods agree | Not in label — unassessed | serious PRR 27.6 | no trial data cached |
| Tachypnoea | 11 | 42.7 23.8–76.5ROR 43.9 · χ² 407 / p 8e-91 | 40.0 EB05 23.8 · IC025 +2.9 3/3 methods agree | Not in label — unassessed | serious PRR 25.7 | no trial data cached |
| Temperature intolerance | 8 | 41.2 20.7–81.8ROR 42.0 · χ² 275 / p 5e-62 | 37.7 EB05 20.4 · IC025 +2.4 3/3 methods agree | Not in label — unassessed | serious n=8 | no trial data cached |
| Rash maculo-papular | 14 | 33.2 19.9–55.6ROR 34.4 · χ² 406 / p 1e-90 | 31.9 EB05 20.2 · IC025 +3.1 3/3 methods agree | Not in label — unassessed | serious PRR 21.5 | no trial data cached |
| Eosinophilia | 10 | 30.1 16.3–55.5ROR 30.8 · χ² 253 / p 3e-57 | 28.5 EB05 16.4 · IC025 +2.6 3/3 methods agree | Not in label — unassessed | serious PRR 18.4 | no trial data cached |
| Cholestasis (bile flow blockage) | 10 | 27.5 14.9–50.8ROR 28.2 · χ² 230 / p 3e-52 | 26.1 EB05 14.9 · IC025 +2.5 3/3 methods agree | Not in label — unassessed | serious PRR 16.3 | no trial data cached |
| Anaphylactic shock | 10 | 20.5 11.1–37.8ROR 21.0 · χ² 167 / p 2e-38 | 19.3 EB05 10.4 · IC025 +2.3 3/3 methods agree | Not in label — unassessed | serious PRR 12.0 | no trial data cached |
| Cerebral haemorrhage | 13 | 19.1 11.2–32.6ROR 19.7 · χ² 206 / p 6e-47 | 18.3 EB05 10.8 · IC025 +2.6 3/3 methods agree | Not in label — unassessed | serious PRR 11.2 | no trial data cached |
| Premature baby | 6 | 10.4 4.7–23.1ROR 10.6 · χ² 42 / p 4e-11 | 7.1 EB05 3.2 · IC025 +1.2 3/3 methods agree | Not in label — unassessed | serious PRR 6.2 | no trial data cached |
Trial evidence (ClinicalTrials.gov)
Most frequently reported reactions
By raw co-report count, regardless of disproportionality. Common terms here are often the illness itself or generic outcomes.
| Reaction | Reports | PRR 95% CI · ROR · χ²/p | EBGM EB05 · IC025 | Label screen | Serious-only & strata | Trial cross-check |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rash maculo-papular | 14 | 33.2 19.9–55.6ROR 34.4 · χ² 406 / p 1e-90 | 31.9 EB05 20.2 · IC025 +3.1 3/3 methods agree | Not in label — unassessed | serious PRR 21.5 | no trial data cached |
| Cerebral haemorrhage | 13 | 19.1 11.2–32.6ROR 19.7 · χ² 206 / p 6e-47 | 18.3 EB05 10.8 · IC025 +2.6 3/3 methods agree | Not in label — unassessed | serious PRR 11.2 | no trial data cached |
| Tachypnoea | 11 | 42.7 23.8–76.5ROR 43.9 · χ² 407 / p 8e-91 | 40.0 EB05 23.8 · IC025 +2.9 3/3 methods agree | Not in label — unassessed | serious PRR 25.7 | no trial data cached |
| Hepatic cytolysis | 11 | 47.3 26.4–84.8ROR 48.7 · χ² 454 / p 6e-101 | 44.0 EB05 26.2 · IC025 +2.9 3/3 methods agree | Not in label — unassessed | serious PRR 27.6 | no trial data cached |
| Anaphylactic shock | 10 | 20.5 11.1–37.8ROR 21.0 · χ² 167 / p 2e-38 | 19.3 EB05 10.4 · IC025 +2.3 3/3 methods agree | Not in label — unassessed | serious PRR 12.0 | no trial data cached |
| Cholestasis (bile flow blockage) | 10 | 27.5 14.9–50.8ROR 28.2 · χ² 230 / p 3e-52 | 26.1 EB05 14.9 · IC025 +2.5 3/3 methods agree | Not in label — unassessed | serious PRR 16.3 | no trial data cached |
| Eosinophilia | 10 | 30.1 16.3–55.5ROR 30.8 · χ² 253 / p 3e-57 | 28.5 EB05 16.4 · IC025 +2.6 3/3 methods agree | Not in label — unassessed | serious PRR 18.4 | no trial data cached |
| Temperature intolerance | 8 | 41.2 20.7–81.8ROR 42.0 · χ² 275 / p 5e-62 | 37.7 EB05 20.4 · IC025 +2.4 3/3 methods agree | Not in label — unassessed | serious n=8 | no trial data cached |
| Premature baby | 6 | 10.4 4.7–23.1ROR 10.6 · χ² 42 / p 4e-11 | 7.1 EB05 3.2 · IC025 +1.2 3/3 methods agree | Not in label — unassessed | serious PRR 6.2 | no trial data cached |
| Caesarean section | 4 | 17.9 6.7–47.4ROR 18.0 · χ² 48 / p 2e-12 | 11.9 EB05 3.4 · IC025 +0.9 3/3 methods agree | Not in label — unassessed | serious PRR 10.7 | no trial data cached |
Unlabeled candidate signals
Every screened signal with n ≥ 20 was either labeled, an indication term, or an artifact pattern — no unlabeled candidate stood out in the top signals.
✓ A hand-written Bradford Hill causality assessment exists for this drug: Zoledronic acid (bisphosphonates) ↔ Osteonecrosis of the jaw.
Want to assess one of these properly? The runbook describes the Bradford Hill / trial-evidence workflow used on the assessment page, and handoff_top1000_signals.csv lists the strongest unassessed pairs across all drugs.
Common questions
What are the most reported side effects of Dextrose?
In FDA FAERS, the most frequently co-reported reaction terms for Dextrose are rash maculo-papular, cerebral haemorrhage, tachypnoea, hepatic cytolysis, anaphylactic shock, cholestasis. These are report counts, not rates: FAERS has no denominator, reporting is voluntary and uneven, and a term can be reported because of the illness being treated rather than the drug.
Does Dextrose have an FDA boxed warning?
No. The FDA label retrieved for Dextrose has no boxed warning; see the label's Warnings and Precautions for the recognised risks.
Do FAERS signals prove that Dextrose causes these side effects?
No. A disproportionality signal (PRR, ROR) means a reaction is reported more often with this drug than with others in the database. That can reflect a real effect, but also the disease being treated, stimulated reporting after news or litigation, co-medications, or how reports are coded. Causality needs temporality, dose-response, biological plausibility, consistency across data sources and, ideally, trial or cohort evidence. This page screens each term against the FDA label and ClinicalTrials.gov results; it does not establish causation.
Sources & methods
- FDA label via openFDA (set ID 60b6d7c3-0164-46c9-aa38-b5aa1c31a5d5, effective 20260512; matched on
openfda.generic_name.exact:"DEXTROSE") - Bayesian shrinkage measures computed offline over all 1,317,300 cached pairs: BCPNN information component (IC, with Norén closed-form IC025) and MGPS empirical-Bayes geometric mean (EBGM, EB05) with a two-component gamma prior fitted by maximum marginal likelihood (α₁=0.57, β₁=0.02, α₂=1.42, β₂=0.70, w=0.17); unstratified
- FAERS pair statistics from the OpenPV build of 2026-09-14 (openFDA
count=aggregation, fieldpatient.drug.openfda.generic_name.exact, 10 reaction terms, min 3 co-reports); PRR/ROR with 95% CI, chi-square with Yates correction - Serious-only and stratified counts (serious:1, patient.patientsex, primarysource.qualification) from openFDA count queries; serious-only PRR uses the drug serious report total and the term global serious total (N_serious=11,882,979); strata shown only when n ≥ 20
- Seriousness and sex counts from openFDA
count=serious,patient.patientsex,seriousnessdeath
Page generated 2026-10-08. Label and PubChem text are retrieved automatically and may lag the current label; always check the current prescribing information. OpenPV is a beta research tool of the Open Source Medicine Foundation.