Epidemiology of adverse cutaneous reactions to drugs

Adverse cutaneous reactions to drugs are among the most frequent adverse reactions to many systemically administered therapeutic agents. In addition to these reactions resulting in discontinuation of drugs important to a patient's treatment, some adverse cutaneous reactions to drugs may result in substantial morbidity or even death. The early recognition of these clinically important reactions is made on clinical grounds. Epidemiologic data do suggest, however, that a relatively small number of drugs are responsible most often for these most serious reactions.