Current cutaneous drug reaction patterns in Singapore

A 2-year study of cutaneous drug eruptions was carried out among inpatients in the Singapore General Hospital. One hundred and seven consecutive patients were studied. Their ages ranged from 12 to 83 years with a mean of 45 years. The male to female ratio was 1.0 to 1.3. The cutaneous drug eruption patterns were as follows: exanthemia (39.3%), erythema multiforme/Stevens-Johnson syndrome (16.8%), urticaria (15.9%), photodermatitis (5.6%), fixed drug eruption (4.7%), eczema (4.7%), toxic epidermal necrolysis (3.7%) and vasculitis (0.4%). The common drugs implicated were: ampicillin (26.2%), aspirin (10.3%), Bactrim (R) (9.3%), allopurinol (8.4%) and tetracycline (7.5%). Antimicrobial agents accounted for 51.4% and analgesic/antiinflammatory agents for 17.8% of all cases. The mortality rate was 2.7%. One death each was attributed to toxic epidermal necrolysis, Stevens-Johnson syndrome and generalized exfoliative dermatitis.