Cutaneous Adverse Drug Reactions in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital-A Prospective Study

Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) are important cause of hospitalization, increased health expenditure and mortality. Cutaneous ADRs (CADRs) are the most frequent ADRs and affect 2–3% of hospitalized patients. The well known risk factors for CADR includes age, sex, previous history of ADRs and environmental factors. The severity of CADRs may vary from mild pruritus to a life threatening Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS). The present study was a hospital based prospective observational study carried out in dermatology department over a 5 months period. The study aims to report and analyze the causality, severity and type of suspected CADRs. During the study period, 250 prescriptions were analyzed and a total of 16 CADRs were identified. Patients in the age group of less than 25 years were found to experience more number of CADRs (50%). Drug classes mostly associated with CADRs were antibiotics (37.5%) followed by corticosteroids (12.5%) and NSAIDs (12.5%).Majority (68.75%) of ADRs were probable and 31.25% of ADRs were possible as per causality assessment by Naranjo`s scale and WHO scale. Severity assessment showed that 93.75% of ADRs were moderate and 6.25% were mild reactions. There were no fatalities reported due to ADR. Suspected ADRs were managed by symptomatic treatment. ADR reporting is an effective tool in increasing the general vigilance among health care professionals and may influence the recommendations for drug use through regulatory authorities. Clinical pharmacists play a vital role in early detection, management, assessment and prevention of ADRs and reporting.