Drug intolerance among young Poles

Background: During a nationwide study of vocational students' health status, history of drug intolerance was collected in a random sample of the population tested.

Methods: 134 Polish vocational students (51 females and 83 males), aged 16-23 (median 19) years underwent medical health checks, including skin prick tests with common allergens, total IgE measurement and Phadiatop test. The physician-administered questionnaire included a question about symptoms of drug intolerance ("Have you ever had adverse reactions after taking any medicine?"). In case of a positive answer, the trade name or at least category of the causative drug was recorded whenever possible.

Results: The question about drug intolerance was answered positively by 13 persons, which makes 9.7% of the population examined (95%CI: 4.7-14.7%). Among them, 9 persons had intolerance reactions to antibiotics (5 to penicillin, 1 to doxycyclin, 1 to cefadroxil and 2 to unspecified antibiotics). Four persons complained of ASA-intolerance and 2 persons of intolerance to pyrazolone drugs (metamizole and amimophenazone). There was no significant correlation between drug intolerance in the patients' history and gender (Fisher's chi-square exact test: p₁=0.08 for all drugs and p₂ = 0.30 for antibiotics), IgE level (p₁=1.00 and p₂=1.00 respectively), Phadiatop test result (p₁=0.75, p₂=0.47), atopy defined as combination of IgE, Phadiatop and skin prick test results (p₁=0.38, p₂=0.23), history of dermatitis (p₁=0.19, p₂=0.27), history of allergic rhinitis (p₁=0.51, p₂=1.00) as well as history of asthma (p₁=0.13 and p₂=0.07).

Conclusion: 5-15% of young Poles had at least one episode of drug intolerance in their lives.

Poster (PDF)

Links:

Sensimun - research in drug allergy

ELISpot - training and implementation

ELISpot - scanning and analysis of ELISpot plates

Sensimun - alergia na leki - badania

Specjalista dermatolog i wenerolog, Kraków