MedDRA preferred term · reduced ability to work

Impaired work ability: adverse event reports recording this term

21,124 reports to FDA record it, 2004–2026; 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.

21,124
reports recording the term: 0.1% of all reports; 787
reports, 12 months to June 2026: 798 in the 12 months before; 77.9%
marked serious by the reporter: 57.4% across all reports; 1.4%
record death among outcomes, as reported: 9.1% across all reports

21,124 reports in FDA's adverse event database record the MedDRA term "Impaired work ability" (in plain words, reduced ability to work): 0.1% of all reports received between January 2004 and June 2026. Coders pick the term that best matches the reporter's description.

787 reports recorded it in the 12 months to June 2026, close to the 798 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, 77.9% are marked serious, 1.4% include death among the outcomes and 19% include hospitalisation, as reported.

The drugs listed most often as suspect products in those reports are Humira, Enbrel and OxyContin. 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
Humira	—	1,329	0.2%
Enbrel	Tumor necrosis factor blocker	965	0.2%
OxyContin	Opioid agonist	937	0.6%
Oxycodone hydrochloride	Opioid agonist	901	0.8%
Methotrexate	Folate analog metabolic inhibitor	744	0.4%
Lyrica	—	733	0.6%
Prednisone	Corticosteroid	618	0.3%
Ampyra	Potassium channel blocker	580	1%
Sulfasalazine	Aminosalicylate	532	1.3%
Hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen	Opioid agonist	515	0.9%
Actemra	Interleukin-6 receptor antagonist	489	0.6%
Metoclopramide	Dopamine-2 receptor antagonist	468	2.1%
Androgel	—	452	2.6%
Xeljanz	Janus kinase inhibitor	436	0.3%
Orencia	Selective T cell costimulation modulator	431	0.4%
Arava	Antirheumatic agent	425	1.2%
Hydroxychloroquine sulfate	Antimalarial	365	1.5%
Vedolizumab	Integrin receptor antagonist	360	0.6%
Hydroxychloroquine	Antimalarial	356	0.9%
Ciprofloxacin	Fluoroquinolone antibacterial	343	0.9%
Chantix	Partial cholinergic nicotinic agonist	335	0.5%
Dilaudid	Opioid agonist	324	0.5%
Morphine sulfate	Opioid agonist	323	0.5%
Remicade	Tumor necrosis factor blocker	322	0.2%
Novothyrox	—	298	2.9%

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
Opioid agonist	4,410	0.5%	0.1%
Tumor necrosis factor blocker	2,375	0.2%	0.2%
Corticosteroid	1,839	0.2%	0%
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug	1,162	0.2%	0%
Antimalarial	1,016	1.1%	0.1%
Folate analog metabolic inhibitor	921	0.3%	0%
Serotonin reuptake inhibitor	862	0.3%	0.2%
Atypical antipsychotic	833	0.1%	0%
HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor	736	0.4%	0.2%
Proton pump inhibitor	736	0.2%	0.1%

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%7

2 to 110.1%19

12 to 170.2%49

18 to 4423.9%5,048

45 to 6431.7%6,704

65 to 744%842

75 and over1.3%279

Age not given38.7%8,176

Patient sex

Female58.9%12,436

Male34.3%7,248

Not given6.8%1,440

Grey bar: all 20,646,523 reports in the database. 71% of these reports give the United States as the country.

Questions about "Impaired work ability"

What does "Impaired work ability" mean in an adverse event report?

In plain language: reduced ability to work. 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 work ability?

21,124 reports through June 2026 (0.1% of all reports), 787 of them in the latest 12 months.

Which drugs appear most often in these reports?

Humira (1,329), Enbrel (965), OxyContin (937), Oxycodone hydrochloride (901) and Methotrexate (744). 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.