Cutaneous reactions to drugs: a series of in-patients during a five-year period.

We have studied drug eruptions at a single clinic since 1956. The last 5-year series comprises in-patients with drug eruptions during the period 1986-1990. The total number of cases in this series was 135, the most common types being fixed eruption, exanthematous eruption and urticaria. The causative agent was confirmed with a provocation test in 102 cases. The most common groups of causative drugs were antimicrobial agents, anti-pyretic/anti-inflammatory analgesics and drugs acting on the central nervous system. We also present a 35-year series of 1997 cases of drug eruptions, most of them proven with oral provocation. The types of drug eruption and the drug groups causing eruptions seem to be the same throughout the 35-year period. As there are no reliable laboratory methods of examining drug eruptions, oral provocation is the only reliable method in most cases.