MedDRA preferred term

Impaired quality of life: adverse event reports recording this term

14,201 reports to FDA record it, 2013–2026; 0.1% 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.

14,201
reports recording the term: 0.1% of all reports; 865
reports, 12 months to June 2026: 1,789 in the 12 months before; 67.2%
marked serious by the reporter: 57.4% across all reports; 1.3%
record death among outcomes, as reported: 9.1% across all reports

14,201 reports in FDA's adverse event database record the MedDRA term "Impaired quality of life": 0.1% of all reports received between April 2013 and June 2026. Coders pick the term that best matches the reporter's description.

865 reports recorded it in the 12 months to June 2026, down 52% from 1,789 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, 67.2% are marked serious, 1.3% include death among the outcomes and 13.2% include hospitalisation, as reported.

The drugs listed most often as suspect products in those reports are Dupixent, Taxotere 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
Dupixent	Interleukin-4 receptor alpha antagonist	3,780	0.8%
Taxotere	—	3,306	10.8%
Humira	—	622	0.1%
Docetaxel	Microtubule inhibitor	488	0.8%
Prednisone	Corticosteroid	466	0.3%
Infliximab	Tumor necrosis factor blocker	404	0.8%
Vedolizumab	Integrin receptor antagonist	385	0.7%
OxyContin	Opioid agonist	378	0.3%
Oxycodone hydrochloride	Opioid agonist	295	0.3%
Adalimumab	Tumor necrosis factor blocker	267	0.7%
Budesonide	Corticosteroid	238	1.6%
Methotrexate	Folate analog metabolic inhibitor	230	0.1%
Entyvio	Integrin receptor antagonist	217	0.9%
Mesalamine	Aminosalicylate	196	2.2%
Asacol	—	194	6.7%
Sulfasalazine	Aminosalicylate	191	0.5%
Cortifoam	Corticosteroid	187	58.3%
Aspirin	Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug	186	0.3%
Warfarin	Vitamin K antagonist	184	0.8%
Hydrocortisone	Corticosteroid	181	0.9%
Acetaminophen Oxycodone Hydrochloride	—	177	0.5%
Gabapentin	Anti-epileptic agent	168	0.2%
Hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen	Opioid agonist	167	0.3%
Oxycodone	Opioid agonist	164	0.5%
Inflectra	Tumor necrosis factor blocker	162	0.6%

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 0.1% 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
Interleukin-4 receptor alpha antagonist	3,809	0.8%	0.5%
Opioid agonist	1,740	0.2%	0%
Corticosteroid	1,376	0.2%	0%
Tumor necrosis factor blocker	1,108	0.1%	0.1%
Integrin receptor antagonist	602	0.2%	0.4%
Microtubule inhibitor	497	0.3%	0%
Aminosalicylate	420	0.7%	0%
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug	415	0.1%	0%
Proton pump inhibitor	354	0.1%	0%
Vitamin K antagonist	302	0.7%	0.7%

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 20.1%14

2 to 111.4%205

12 to 172%291

18 to 4416.9%2,398

45 to 6430.3%4,301

65 to 748.1%1,157

75 and over3.8%539

Age not given37.3%5,296

Patient sex

Female60.4%8,574

Male26.6%3,781

Not given13%1,846

Grey bar: all 20,646,523 reports in the database. 77.8% of these reports give the United States as the country.

Questions about "Impaired quality of life"

What does "Impaired quality of life" 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 impaired quality of life?

14,201 reports through June 2026 (0.1% of all reports), 865 of them in the latest 12 months.

Which drugs appear most often in these reports?

Dupixent (3,780), Taxotere (3,306), Humira (622), Docetaxel (488) and Prednisone (466). 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.