MedDRA preferred term

Mental status changes: adverse event reports recording this term

27,331 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.

27,331
reports recording the term: 0.1% of all reports; 1,430
reports, 12 months to June 2026: 1,371 in the 12 months before; 90.1%
marked serious by the reporter: 57.4% across all reports; 15.3%
record death among outcomes, as reported: 9.1% across all reports

27,331 reports in FDA's adverse event database record the MedDRA term "Mental status changes": 0.1% of all reports received between January 2004 and June 2026. Coders pick the term that best matches the reporter's description.

1,430 reports recorded it in the 12 months to June 2026, close to the 1,371 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, 90.1% are marked serious, 15.3% include death among the outcomes and 71.3% include hospitalisation, as reported.

The drugs listed most often as suspect products in those reports are Baclofen, Prednisone and Gabapentin. 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
Baclofen	gamma-Aminobutyric acid-ergic agonist	565	2.6%
Prednisone	Corticosteroid	527	0.3%
Gabapentin	Anti-epileptic agent	518	0.7%
Methotrexate	Folate analog metabolic inhibitor	433	0.2%
Tacrolimus	Calcineurin inhibitor immunosuppressant	409	0.4%
Revlimid	Thalidomide analog	397	0.1%
Dupixent	Interleukin-4 receptor alpha antagonist	386	0.1%
Clozapine	Atypical antipsychotic	380	0.5%
Dexamethasone	Corticosteroid	345	0.3%
Metformin	Biguanide	344	0.5%
Acetaminophen	Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug	334	0.4%
Cyclophosphamide	Alkylating drug	333	0.2%
Morphine	Opioid agonist	296	1%
Fentanyl	Opioid agonist	258	0.5%
Cytarabine	Nucleoside metabolic inhibitor	253	0.5%
Carboplatin	Platinum-based drug	249	0.2%
Amlodipine	Calcium channel blocker	246	0.5%
Lamotrigine	Anti-epileptic agent	244	0.5%
Olanzapine	Atypical antipsychotic	238	0.5%
Levetiracetam	—	233	0.4%
Quetiapine	Atypical antipsychotic	230	0.4%
Mycophenolate mofetil	Antimetabolite immunosuppressant	225	0.3%
Digoxin	Cardiac glycoside	220	1.4%
Ibuprofen	Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug	220	0.3%
Lorazepam	Benzodiazepine	220	0.7%

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 0.1% 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	2,193	0.2%	0.1%
Atypical antipsychotic	1,950	0.3%	0.1%
Anti-epileptic agent	1,446	0.5%	0.2%
Corticosteroid	1,242	0.2%	0%
Benzodiazepine	993	0.4%	0.3%
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug	898	0.2%	0%
Kinase inhibitor	872	0.1%	0.1%
Serotonin reuptake inhibitor	849	0.3%	0.3%
gamma-Aminobutyric acid-ergic agonist	789	2.2%	1.6%
Nucleoside metabolic inhibitor	771	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 20.8%218

2 to 112.2%609

12 to 173.2%881

18 to 4413.4%3,652

45 to 6425.7%7,035

65 to 7416%4,381

75 and over14.1%3,859

Age not given24.5%6,696

Patient sex

Female46.1%12,598

Male45.8%12,517

Not given8.1%2,216

Grey bar: all 20,646,523 reports in the database. 87.7% of these reports give the United States as the country.

Questions about "Mental status changes"

What does "Mental status changes" 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 mental status changes?

27,331 reports through June 2026 (0.1% of all reports), 1,430 of them in the latest 12 months.

Which drugs appear most often in these reports?

Baclofen (565), Prednisone (527), Gabapentin (518), Methotrexate (433) and Tacrolimus (409). 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.