Medical Data API Guide (openFDA + WHO GHO)

Overview

This skill covers two major open medical data APIs for academic research:

openFDA is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's public API providing access to drug labeling (SPL), adverse event reports (FAERS), recalls, and NDC directory. The FAERS dataset contains over 722,000 reports for common drugs like aspirin, making it a primary pharmacovigilance resource.

WHO Global Health Observatory (GHO) is the WHO's OData v4 API serving over 2,000 health indicators across 194 member states -- life expectancy, mortality, disease burden, health system coverage, risk factors, and SDG targets. Returns structured JSON with numeric values, confidence intervals, and dimensional breakdowns by country, sex, and year.

Both APIs are free, require no authentication, and return JSON.

Authentication

openFDA: No authentication required. An optional API key (free, via https://open.fda.gov/apis/authentication/) increases rate limits from 240/min to 120,000/day. Register at https://open.fda.gov/apis/ to obtain a key, then append

&api_key=YOUR_KEY

WHO GHO: No authentication required. No API key needed. All endpoints are publicly accessible with no registration.

Core Endpoints

openFDA: Drug Labels

Search FDA-approved drug labeling data (Structured Product Labeling). Returns boxed warnings, indications, dosage, contraindications, and adverse reactions text.

• URL:

  GET https://api.fda.gov/drug/label.json

• Parameters:

• Example:

curl "https://api.fda.gov/drug/label.json?search=aspirin&limit=1"

• Response: Returns

  meta.results.total

  (26,564 for "aspirin") and

  results

  array. Each result contains

  boxed_warning

  ,

  indications_and_usage

  ,

  dosage_and_administration

  ,

  warnings

  ,

  adverse_reactions

  ,

  drug_interactions

  , and

  openfda

  cross-references (brand/generic names, manufacturer, NDC, pharmacologic class).

openFDA: Adverse Events (FAERS)

Search the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System. Each record describes a safety report including patient demographics, suspect drugs, reported reactions, and outcomes.

• URL:

  GET https://api.fda.gov/drug/event.json

• Parameters:

patient.drug.openfda.brand_name:"aspirin"

patient.reaction.reactionmeddrapt.exact

• Example:

curl 'https://api.fda.gov/drug/event.json?search=patient.drug.openfda.brand_name:"aspirin"&limit=1'

• Response: Returns

  meta.results.total

  (722,607 for aspirin). Each result:

  safetyreportid

  ,

  serious

  (1=yes, 2=no),

  primarysourcecountry

  ,

  receivedate

  , nested

  patient

  with

  patientsex

  ,

  reaction

  array (MedDRA terms +

  reactionoutcome

  ), and

  drug

  array with

  drugcharacterization

  (1=suspect, 2=concomitant, 3=interacting),

  medicinalproduct

  ,

  openfda

  cross-references.

WHO GHO: Health Indicator Data

Retrieve data points for a specific health indicator with country, year, and sex dimensions.

• URL:

  GET https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/{IndicatorCode}

• Parameters (OData v4 query options):

SpatialDim eq 'USA' and TimeDim eq 2020

• Example:

# Life expectancy at birth (WHOSIS_000001)
curl "https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/WHOSIS_000001?\$top=2"

• Response: OData JSON with

  value

  array. Each record:

  SpatialDim

  (ISO country, e.g., "BTN"),

  ParentLocation

  (WHO region),

  TimeDim

  (year),

  Dim1

  (sex: "SEX_BTSX"/"SEX_MLE"/"SEX_FMLE"),

  Value

  ("67.8 [67.1-68.6]"),

  NumericValue

  (67.845665),

  Low

  /

  High

  confidence bounds.

WHO GHO: Indicator Directory

List available health indicators with their codes and names.

• URL:

  GET https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/Indicator

• Example:

curl "https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/Indicator?\$top=5"

• Response: Array of entries with

  IndicatorCode

  (e.g., "Adult_curr_e-cig"),

  IndicatorName

  (e.g., "Prevalence of current e-cigarette use among adults (%)"),

  Language

  ("EN"). Over 2,000 indicators spanning mortality, morbidity, health systems, and risk factors.

Rate Limits

openFDA:

• Without API key: 240 requests per minute (burst), 1,000 requests per day
• With free API key: 240 requests per minute, 120,000 requests per day
• Pagination ceiling:

  skip

  +

  limit

  cannot exceed 26,000 (use

  search

  +

  sort

  for deeper access)

WHO GHO:

• No documented rate limits; the service runs on Azure CDN (azureedge.net)
• Recommended: keep requests under 10/second for courtesy
• For bulk downloads, use the GHO data portal CSV exports at https://www.who.int/data/gho

Academic Use Cases

Pharmacovigilance: Adverse Event Signal Detection

Count reactions by MedDRA term to identify safety signals:

import requests

resp = requests.get("https://api.fda.gov/drug/event.json", params={
    "search": 'patient.drug.openfda.brand_name:"aspirin"',
    "count": "patient.reaction.reactionmeddrapt.exact",
    "limit": 10
})
for r in resp.json()["results"]:
    print(f"  {r['term']}: {r['count']} reports")

Epidemiology: Cross-National Health Comparisons

Compare health indicators across countries and time periods:

import requests

resp = requests.get("https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/WHOSIS_000001", params={
    "$filter": "SpatialDim eq 'JPN' and Dim1 eq 'SEX_BTSX'",
    "$orderby": "TimeDim desc",
    "$top": 10
})
for row in resp.json()["value"]:
    print(f"  Japan {row['TimeDim']}: {row['Value']}")

Public Health: Drug Label Comparison

Compare safety language across drug labels for regulatory research:

import requests

for drug in ["ibuprofen", "naproxen", "celecoxib"]:
    resp = requests.get("https://api.fda.gov/drug/label.json",
        params={"search": f'openfda.generic_name:"{drug}"', "limit": 1})
    results = resp.json().get("results", [])
    if results:
        warning = results[0].get("boxed_warning", ["None"])[0][:200]
        print(f"{drug.upper()}: {warning}...\n")

Key Indicator Codes (WHO GHO)

References

• openFDA documentation: https://open.fda.gov/apis/
• openFDA API key registration: https://open.fda.gov/apis/authentication/
• openFDA query syntax: https://open.fda.gov/apis/query-syntax/
• openFDA GitHub: https://github.com/FDA/openfda
• WHO GHO API documentation: https://www.who.int/data/gho/info/gho-odata-api
• WHO GHO OData endpoint: https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/
• WHO GHO indicator list: https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/Indicator
• WHO Global Health Observatory portal: https://www.who.int/data/gho