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side effect

eli7

Senior Member
Persian (Farsi)
Greetings,

I know that "minor or major" side effects is correct, but I want to know if I can use "small/ few/low/high/little" before this noun.
Herbal therapy has minor/low/small/ little side effects.
You need to distinguish between the frequency and severity of the effect and use the approproate adjective. Are you saying there aren't many side-effects or they are not really bad?
Both. Because the side effects of herbal therapy, in my opinion, are not so many and are not serious.
What's the difference in using the adjectives/quantifiers?
Both. Because the side effects of herbal therapy, in my opinion, are not so many and are not serious.
What's the difference in using the adjectives/quantifiers?
We use different quantifiers/adjectives for severity and frequency. The effect may be minor (describes the quality) or they may be rare (decribes the frequency).
(And there are not many serious studies that actually eveluate efficacy and safety of such treatments but this is a language forum, not a science one 👁 Smile :)
)
Some side effects are not all that bad. Some drugs have a side effect of loss of weight. Not all patients will consider that an adverse side effect.

Pfizer's Sildenafil was intended as a blood pressure medication. It has a widely known side effect (and primary application) when called by its brand name: Viagra.
We use different quantifiers/adjectives for severity and frequency. The effect may be minor (describes the quality) or they may be rare (decribes the frequency).
Thanks a lot. So, in no case these adjectives can be used here? (small/ few/low/high/little)
In the UK, side effects from drugs are commonly expressed as percentages indicating the relative likelihood of a patient experiencing them (1 in 10, 1 in 100... and so on).

So you could probably talk about "few side effects" as meaning a low percentage likelihood.
When numbers are given, vague adjectives are redundant. However, when adjectives are used, adjectives like uncommon, rare and very rare are used to describe frequency.
Uncommon (0.1% to 1%):
Very rare (less than 0.01%):
Rare (0.01% to 0.1%):
and adjectives such as mild or serious, to describe the severity
Call your doctor at once if you have any of these serious side effects:
...
Less serious side effects may include:
Source
Last edited:
I just looked up Zocor, the most prescribed medication in the USA. The FDA label lists side effects in percentages and they compare it with a placebo. See page 8 in the linked document. They don't seem to use any size adjectives.

https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2012/019766s085lbl.pdf

Correction. Hospitals "prescribe" the non-prescription-required acetaminophen often enough for it to eclipse the prescription-required Zocor. Acetaminophen is available over the counter without a prescription. In the hospital if a doctor ordered the medication, it is a "prescription".
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