DRUG ALLERGY - FACT OR FICTION

From our clinical practice, it was apparent that patients often report ed drug allergies without a substantiating history, A prospective stud y over six months was undertaken to examine the reporting of drug alle rgies by hospital patients. Based on the history, allergic reactions w ere triaged into one of three categories: high probability of an aller gic reaction, low probability of an allergic reaction, and uncertain, where the history was incomplete or unclear. Of 1519 patients intervie wed, 133 (9%) reported prior drug allergies. The most commonly implica ted agents were penicillin (74%), septrin (6%), aspirin (6%), cefuroxi me (2%) and trimethoprim (2%); 61% of reactions were deemed to be high probability, with the remainder either low (29%) or uncertain (10%) p robability, It was apparent that patients often considered drug allerg y to be synonymous with adverse reaction, Preventing patients from bei ng labelled as drug allergic, thus being denied therapy with first-lin e agents, requires patient education and vigilance by doctors in their history-taking.