MedDRA preferred term

Dependence: adverse event reports recording this term

53,795 reports to FDA record it, 2004–2026; 0.3% of the database.

Read first · FDA's statement on these data

Adverse event reports submitted to FDA do not undergo extensive validation or verification. Therefore, a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report. While a suspected relationship may exist, it is not medically validated and should not be the sole source of information for clinical decision making or other assumptions about the safety or efficacy of a product. Additionally, it is important to remember that adverse event reports represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product. Common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product. openFDA, FDA

FDA adds: "There is no certainty that the reported event (adverse event or medication error) was actually due to the product. FDA does not require that a causal relationship between a product and event be proven, and reports do not always contain enough detail to properly evaluate an event." The information in these reports "cannot be used to estimate the incidence of these events."

Do not rely on openFDA to make decisions regarding medical care. While we make every effort to ensure that data is accurate, you should assume all results are unvalidated.

Not medical advice. This site counts what was reported to FDA. Questions about a medicine or device belong with a pharmacist or clinician.

53,795
reports recording the term: 0.3% of all reports; 187
reports, 12 months to June 2026: 479 in the 12 months before; 99.1%
marked serious by the reporter: 57.4% across all reports; 7.7%
record death among outcomes, as reported: 9.1% across all reports

"Dependence" is a MedDRA preferred term recorded in 53,795 adverse event reports received by FDA, 0.3% of the database, from January 2004 to June 2026. The term is chosen by whoever codes the report to match what the reporter described.

187 reports recorded it in the 12 months to June 2026, down 61% from 479 in the 12 months before. FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases. Of reports recording this term, 99.1% are marked serious, 7.7% include death among the outcomes and 1.9% include hospitalisation, as reported.

The drugs listed most often as suspect products in those reports are Acetaminophen Hydrocodone Bitartrate, Percocet and Acetaminophen Oxycodone Hydrochloride. That order mostly follows how many reports each drug has overall; the table also gives the term's share within each drug's own reports. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

Reports by month, five years

FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases.

Drugs listed as suspect products in these reports

Drug	Class	Reports with this term	Share of the drug's own reports
Acetaminophen Hydrocodone Bitartrate	—	27,015	93.5%
Percocet	Opioid agonist	18,771	32.5%
Acetaminophen Oxycodone Hydrochloride	—	14,974	46.2%
Endocet	Opioid agonist	8,458	84.7%
Tramadol hydrochloride	Opioid agonist	7,822	28.5%
Oxymorphone hydrochloride	Opioid agonist	4,898	42.4%
Morphine sulfate	Opioid agonist	4,897	8.1%
Opana	—	4,378	14%
Opana Er	—	3,987	13%
Fentanyl citrate	Opioid agonist	3,926	26.1%
Acetaminophen and codeine	Opioid agonist	3,689	50.9%
Promethazine hydrochloride and codeine phosphate	Opioid agonist	3,493	98.4%
Propoxyphene Hydrochloride	—	2,953	86.5%
Hydrocodone Bitartrate Ibuprofen	—	2,687	91.9%
Buprenorphine hydrochloride	Partial opioid agonist	2,271	55.8%
OxyContin	Opioid agonist	2,060	1.4%
Belbuca	Partial opioid agonist	1,474	48.5%
Depodur	—	1,457	84.7%
Endodan	—	1,350	92.3%
Hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen	Opioid agonist	1,302	2.2%
Oxycodone hydrochloride	Opioid agonist	1,208	1.1%
Ibudone	—	1,154	93.8%
Codeine	—	998	4.6%
Butalbital Acetaminophen and Caffeine with Codeine Phosphate	—	951	94%
Oxycodone	Opioid agonist	948	2.7%

Drugs with a page on this site, ordered by the number of their reports recording this term. The last column is the term's share within that drug's own reports, against 0.3% across the whole database. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

By pharmacologic class

Class	Reports with this term	Share of class reports	Median drug in class
Opioid agonist	65,951	6.8%	0.9%
Partial opioid agonist	4,069	4.3%	0.8%
Histamine-1 receptor antagonist	876	0.6%	0%
Benzodiazepine	589	0.2%	0.1%
Serotonin reuptake inhibitor	496	0.2%	0%
Cholinergic nicotinic agonist	475	0.9%	0.3%
Atypical antipsychotic	282	0%	0%
Opioid antagonist	278	0.9%	0.2%
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug	156	0%	0%
gamma-Aminobutyric acid A receptor positive modulator	133	0.4%	0.3%

Classes ordered by count. Class shares follow the class's overall report volume as much as anything else.

Patients in these reports

Patient age

Under 20%19

2 to 110.1%28

12 to 170.1%51

18 to 442.4%1,274

45 to 641.8%943

65 to 740.4%214

75 and over0.2%122

Age not given95.1%51,144

Patient sex

Female29.8%16,027

Male41.5%22,309

Not given28.7%15,459

Grey bar: all 20,646,523 reports in the database. 94.5% of these reports give the United States as the country.

Questions about "Dependence"

What does "Dependence" mean in an adverse event report?

It is a MedDRA preferred term, the dictionary FDA uses to code what a reporter described. The report's own description is not published by openFDA and is not shown here.

How many reports record dependence?

53,795 reports through June 2026 (0.3% of all reports), 187 of them in the latest 12 months.

Which drugs appear most often in these reports?

Acetaminophen Hydrocodone Bitartrate (27,015), Percocet (18,771), Acetaminophen Oxycodone Hydrochloride (14,974), Endocet (8,458) and Tramadol hydrochloride (7,822). Drugs with many reports overall lead almost every term's list. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

Does a drug appearing here mean it was responsible for this reaction?

No. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

I have this symptom. What should I do?

This site cannot assess anyone. A pharmacist or clinician can; for an emergency, call the local emergency number. Nothing on this page is medical advice.

Where this comes from. Counts are built from the openFDA Drug Adverse Event (FAERS) bulk export released 28 Sep 2026, which holds reports FDA received through 30 Jun 2026. Drug names are as reported, resolved to the brand or generic name on the FDA label where openFDA's harmonisation matched them; classes are the pharmacologic class (EPC) from the label and the National Drug Code Directory of 17 Sep 2026. Terms are pooled across spelling and capitalisation variants of one MedDRA preferred term. No report narrative, lot number, patient detail or reporter identity is published. See the methodology and sources; FDA's record is authoritative, and corrections are handled within five working days.

Drug data (FAERS) through 30 Jun 2026; device data (MAUDE) through 31 Aug 2026. Not medical advice.