Drug eruptions: causative agents and clinical types. A series of in-patients during a 10-year period.

A series of 446 inpatients with drug eruption was studied to determine the causative agent and the clinical type. In over a half of the cases a provocation test confirmed the drug responsible for the reaction. Sulphonamides/trimethoprim and ampicillin/penicillin followed by phenazones were the most frequent agents causing eruptions. Sulphonamides were also the most common drugs inducing Lyell's and Stevens-Johnson syndromes. Phenazones and barbiturates were the main causes of fixed eruptions. The frequency of inpatients having drug eruption was decreased in the 1971-80 series compared with the earlier one from 1961-70. Also the frequency of Lyell's and Stevens-Johnson syndromes was lower in the latter decade than in the earlier one.