Analysis of Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis using the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report database.

Background: Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) are severe cutaneous adverse reactions associated with fatal disorders. Although many causes of SJS/TEN have been proposed, the time-to-onset for SJS/TEN and the relationship between aging and SJS/TEN are still not clear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the relationship between aging and SJS/TEN using the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report (JADER) database and analyze the time-to-onset profile of SJS/TEN.

Methods: We analyzed reports of SJS/TEN recorded in the JADER database between 2004 and 2015 using an adjusted reporting odds ratio (ROR). We also used Weibull proportional hazards models for each drug to examine the expression patterns of SJS/TEN. We selected the drugs according to the number of the reports associated with SJS/TEN.

Results: The JADER contained 330,686 reports from April 2004 to April 2015. The adjusted RORs for patients in the 0-19-, 20-39-, 60-79-, and ≥ 80-year-old groups from all data extracted from the JADER database were 1.33 (95 % confidence interval [CI], 1.21-1.45), 1.78 (95 % CI, 1.65-1.93), 0.71 (95 % CI, 0.66-0.75), and 0.72 (95 % CI, 0.66-0.79), respectively. The adjusted ROR tended to be higher in patients aged 0-19 years, particularly in patients using antipyretic analgesics, such as loxoprofen or acetaminophen. More than half of the cases of SJS/TEN onset following administration of loxoprofen and acetaminophen occurred within 4 days of the initiation of treatment. The median times-to-onset were 3 days for loxoprofen and 2 days for acetaminophen. The scale parameter α values of loxoprofen and acetaminophen were 9.44 and 6.17, respectively. The upper 95 % CIs of shape parameter β values for the drugs were all less than 1, with the exceptions of those for carbamazepine, ACE inhibitors, and corticosteroids.

Conclusions: Our results suggested that monitoring of younger patients who frequently use antipyretic analgesics is important. These drugs should be used and monitored within the first 2-3 days of treatment in the Japanese population.