A study of drugs causing fixed drug eruptions in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Adverse drug reactions (ADR) are among the most frequent problems encountered clinically and represent a common cause for hospitalization.Fixed drug eruptions are common cutaneous ADR.The aim of this study is to evaluate the drugs and the clinical pattern of drug induced Fixed Drug Eruptions (FDE), in a tertiary care hospital, in the southern region of Tamil Nadu. Sixty cases with established FDE were evaluated clinically. The drugs commonly reported were   Cotrimoxazole (25%), Non Steroidal AntiinflammatoryDrugs (NSAID) (21.7%), Tetracyclines (11.7%), Ciprofloxacin (6.7%), Amoxycillin (5%) and Metronidazole (3.3%). Cotrimoxazole was the leading etiological agent in our population. The lesions were found to be distributed on the oro-genital mucosa, trunk and the acral regions.The clinical pattern and drugs causing FDE were almost similar to those observed in other countries except for some minor variations, which may be due to the differences in the individual’s health care seeking behavior.