MedDRA preferred term · loose or frequent stools

Diarrhoea: adverse event reports recording this term

633,344 reports to FDA record it, 2004–2026; 3.1% 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.

633,344
reports recording the term: 3.1% of all reports; 43,937
reports, 12 months to June 2026: 41,036 in the 12 months before; 56.6%
marked serious by the reporter: 57.4% across all reports; 5.6%
record death among outcomes, as reported: 9.1% across all reports

"Diarrhoea" (in plain words, loose or frequent stools) is a MedDRA preferred term recorded in 633,344 adverse event reports received by FDA, 3.1% of the database, from January 2004 to June 2026. The term is chosen by whoever codes the report to match what the reporter described.

43,937 reports recorded it in the 12 months to June 2026, close to the 41,036 of 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, 56.6% are marked serious, 5.6% include death among the outcomes and 28.7% include hospitalisation, as reported.

The drugs listed most often as suspect products in those reports are Revlimid, Otezla and Humira. 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
Revlimid	Thalidomide analog	27,210	7.7%
Otezla	Phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor	23,537	17.3%
Humira	—	22,076	3.5%
Enbrel	Tumor necrosis factor blocker	11,972	2.1%
Methotrexate	Folate analog metabolic inhibitor	11,408	5.5%
Ofev	Kinase inhibitor	8,801	36.8%
Cabometyx	Kinase inhibitor	8,341	19.9%
Prednisone	Corticosteroid	8,288	4.5%
Xeljanz	Janus kinase inhibitor	8,006	5.1%
Tecfidera	—	7,914	6.9%
Capecitabine	Nucleoside metabolic inhibitor	7,487	14.5%
Rituximab	CD20-directed cytolytic antibody	7,465	4.8%
Cosentyx	Interleukin-17A antagonist	7,201	4.8%
Vedolizumab	Integrin receptor antagonist	6,853	11.7%
Remicade	Tumor necrosis factor blocker	6,558	4.2%
Actemra	Interleukin-6 receptor antagonist	6,286	7.8%
Oxaliplatin	Platinum-based drug	6,059	9.4%
Fluorouracil	Nucleoside metabolic inhibitor	5,985	9.9%
Orencia	Selective T cell costimulation modulator	5,795	5.3%
Metformin	Biguanide	5,559	8.4%
Mounjaro	GLP-1 receptor agonist	5,420	6.3%
Ibrance	Kinase inhibitor	5,371	6.6%
Trulicity	GLP-1 receptor agonist	5,361	7.1%
Carboplatin	Platinum-based drug	5,266	5.1%
Dexamethasone	Corticosteroid	5,263	4.1%

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 3.1% 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
Kinase inhibitor	89,549	10.5%	6.9%
Tumor necrosis factor blocker	42,364	4%	5.8%
Thalidomide analog	34,844	6.8%	5.1%
Corticosteroid	32,871	4.1%	1.3%
GLP-1 receptor agonist	27,802	6.9%	6.7%
Phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor	25,116	16.5%	14.2%
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug	24,954	4.5%	1.9%
Nucleoside metabolic inhibitor	23,944	7.6%	3.4%
Folate analog metabolic inhibitor	15,586	5%	4.8%
Prostacycline vasodilator	15,340	12.9%	14.5%

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 20.4%2,427

2 to 111%6,340

12 to 170.8%5,099

18 to 4410.7%67,919

45 to 6424.4%154,569

65 to 7415.7%99,296

75 and over12%76,134

Age not given35%221,560

Patient sex

Female58.5%370,780

Male32.5%206,035

Not given8.9%56,529

Grey bar: all 20,646,523 reports in the database. 68% of these reports give the United States as the country.

Questions about "Diarrhoea"

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

In plain language: loose or frequent stools. 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 diarrhoea?

633,344 reports through June 2026 (3.1% of all reports), 43,937 of them in the latest 12 months.

Which drugs appear most often in these reports?

Revlimid (27,210), Otezla (23,537), Humira (22,076), Enbrel (11,972) and Methotrexate (11,408). 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.