Prospective monitoring of cutaneous adverse drug reactions in a secondary care hospital, UAE

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are one of the most important causes of morbidity, hospitalization, increased healthcare cost and even mortality. Cutaneous adverse reactions are most commonly documented for drugs. The aim of the study was to monitor the incidence and nature of cutaneous adverse drug reactions (CADRs) in the dermatology outpatients and identify the causative drugs.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> A prospective observational study was conducted at the dermatology outpatient department of a secondary care hospital, UAE. All the patients attending dermatology outpatient and satisfying the inclusion criteria were monitored for ADRs. The required data were collected from the patients, their case files, and caretakers and entered in a suitably designed ADR reporting and documentation form. The causality, severity, and preventability of cutaneous ADRs were assessed using Naranjo, WHO, Hartwig and modified Schumock and Thornton scale.<strong></strong></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> The prevalence of cutaneous ADRs was found to be 2.6%. Majority (43.4%) of the cutaneous ADRs were caused by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Majority (56.5%) of the study population reported itching as the most common cutaneous ADR. Also, 60.8% of the reported ADRs were “probable” in nature according to World Health Organization scale, whereas 56.5% reports were “probable” according to Naranjo’s algorithm. Majority (97%) of the ADRs were not preventable.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were the common causes of cutaneous ADRs in the study. Majority of the adverse reactions were mild in nature. The type and nature of cutaneous adverse drug reaction profile documented in this study is almost similar in many ways to other ADRs monitoring studies conducted in dermatology outpatient clinics.</p>