title: Drug hypersensitivities: definition, epidemiology and risk factors.
abstract: Drug hypersensitivity reactions are the adverse effects of drugs taken at a dose which is tolerated by normal subjects, and which clinically resemble allergy. There is few true epidemiological data on drug hypersensitivity reactions. The available information requires a cautious interpretation as they are rarely proven. Both under diagnosis and over diagnosis must be taken into account. Drug hypersensitivity reactions represent one third of adverse drug reactions, can be life threatening and motivate changes on drug prescription. They concern more than 7% of the general population, therefore being an important public health problem. A few risk factors are already pinpointed. Future progress in genetics can help the identification of populations at risk for specific reactions. This review describes currently known data on incidence,prevalence, mor tality and risk factors of these reactions.
authors.affiliation: Allergy Department, Maladies Respiratoires and INSERM U454, IFR3, Hôpital Arnaud de Villeneuve, University Hospital of Montpellier, 34295 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Demoly
authors.forename: E Rebelo
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Gomes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015897:Comorbidity; D004342:Drug Hypersensitivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006241:Haptens / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D010045:Outpatients; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D006241:Haptens