title: Risk factors for drug allergy.
abstract: Judging from available data on penicillin allergy there appear to be multiple definable risk factors for drug-induced immunopathology. The induction of a drug-specific immune response can be influenced by the age of the patient; underlying genetic or metabolic factors, which may restrict ability to initiate a drug-specific immune response; the chemical properties of the drug, largely its protein reactivity; and the dose and duration of treatment as well as the route of drug administration. The elicitation of drug-induced immunopathology is a function of the persistence of a drug-specific immune response; the frequency of drug treatment and its dose and duration; and probable constitutional factors that may determine in an important way the efficiency with which a drug-specific immune response can be translated into a systemic allergic reaction.
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000917:Antibody Formation; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004342:Drug Hypersensitivity / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000276:immunology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D010406:Penicillins / Q000009:adverse effects; D012306:Risk; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D010406:Penicillins; D007073:Immunoglobulin E