Frequency of Drug Allergy and Associated Factors Reported by Patients Applying to the Internal Medicine Outpatient Clinic

Introduction: We aimed to determine the frequency of drug allergy and the risk factors associated with drug allergy with a standard questionnaire to be answered by the participants.
Methods: In this study, we prepared and administered a questionnaire to inquire about drug allergy, recurrence of allergy, clinical findings, treatment for allergy, and accompanying comorbidities in outpatients admitted to the internal medicine clinic.
Results: A total of 261 (138 men and 123 women) participants were included in this study. The prevalence of drug allergy was 36.8% in the study. It was observed that the most common cause of drug allergy was antibiotics (22.7%), acetylsalicylic acid (antipyretic drugs) (14.4%), and gastric protectors (10.3%). Among the allergic symptoms, urticaria (24.7%) stands first, angioedema (23.7%) second, and hematological problems third (15.5%). The fourth and the fifth are eye findings (13.4%) and skin findings (12.4%), respectively. The history of asthma and drug allergy in first-degree relatives was significantly higher in the group with drug allergy (p<0.001). Male gender, latex allergy, asthma, atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, chronic sinusitis, diabetes, and recurrent urinary tract infection were risk factors associated with drug allergy.
Discussion and Conclusion: In this study, the prevalence of drug allergy was found to be 36.8% in patients who applied to the Internal Medicine Clinic. It has been observed that male gender may be associated with drug allergy along with some chronic diseases.

Keywords: Acetylsalicylic acid; Antibiotics; Drug allergies; Hypersensitivity reactions