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Cutaneous adverse drug reactions in children. A series of 90 cases

Aida Khaled1, Monia Kharfi, Myriam Ben Hamida

  • 1Department of Dermatology, Charles Nicolle Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia.

La Tunisie Medicale
|February 8, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Cutaneous adverse drug reactions (CADR) are common in children, with maculopapular eruptions caused by antibiotics being the most frequent. All children experienced favorable outcomes, even with severe reactions, highlighting the need for careful drug assessment.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Dermatology
  • Pharmacovigilance
  • Drug Safety

Background:

  • Cutaneous adverse drug reactions (CADR) are frequent in pediatric populations.
  • These reactions present with diverse clinical manifestations and can be triggered by various medications.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the epidemioclinical characteristics of CADR in Tunisian children.
  • To identify the specific drugs responsible for these reactions in the studied pediatric cohort.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective analysis of 90 children under 16 with documented CADR over 18 years (1991-2008).
  • Data collected included patient demographics, lesion types, causative drugs, onset delay, and treatment outcomes.
  • Inclusion criteria required well-documented cutaneous drug reactions validated by the national pharmacovigilance center.

Main Results:

  • Maculopapular eruption (MPE) was the most common reaction (57.7%), followed by acute urticaria (16.6%) and fixed drug eruption (14.4%).
  • Antibiotics were the leading cause (55.5%), particularly betalactamins, followed by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (18.8%) and antiepileptics (11.1%).
  • All patients achieved a favorable outcome, including those with severe cutaneous drug reactions.

Conclusions:

  • Antibiotic-induced maculopapular eruptions are the predominant form of CADR in children.
  • Establishing definitive drug causality is crucial, considering the prevalence of MPE in infectious conditions and frequent antibiotic use in pediatrics.
Abstract

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