Adverse Cutaneous Reactions to Psychotropic Drugs: A Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25752/psi.5991Keywords:
Psychotropic Drugs, Cutaneous Adverse Reactions, Antidepressants, Antipsychotics, Benzodiazepines, Mood Stabilizers, Anticonvulsants, Antidementia.Abstract
Introduction: Psychotropic drugs are often implicated in cutaneous adverse drug reactions. While most of these reactions have a benign character, it is still important, however, to consider its role in the increasing stigma and treatment adherence. A small number of the cutaneous adverse drug reactions can develop into serious and potentially fatal conditions.Objectives: This article aims to review the most common cutaneous adverse drug reactions in patients taking psychotropic drugs.
Methods: In this study, a search was carried out in the MEDLINE database for English language articles published , from 1999 to 2014, using as keywords: psychiatric, psychotropic, cutaneous, adverse reaction, antidepressive agents, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, mood stabilizers, anticonvulsant, dementia. Information available from the Portuguese regulatory and supervising agency (Infarmed) was also included.
Results: 121 articles were found with reference to cutaneous adverse drug reactions associated with psychotropic drugs. The drugs most frequently reported as associated with such adverse effects were anticonvulsants used as mood stabilizers, followed by the antipsychotics . The antidementia drugs were rarely associated with serious cutaneous adverse reactions.
Discussion and Conclusion: Cutaneous drug adverse reactions are common in psychiatric clinical practice and typically are minor in severity. The most severe reactions are most often associated with the use of mood stabilizing medications. Some of these side effects can be solved with reduction or drug discontinuation. More severe cases should be referred to a specialist in dermatology.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Articles are published under the license CC-BY-3.0 by Creative Commons, in full open-access, without any cost or fees of any kind to the author or the reader. In this scheme, the authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication, allowing the free sharing of work, provided it is correctly attributed the authorship and initial publication in this journal. Readers and end-users are allowed to copy, use, distribute, transmit and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works, in any digital medium for any responsible purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship. The authors are permitted to take on additional contracts separately for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal (eg, post it to an institutional repository or as a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal. Authors are permitted and encouraged to publish and distribute their work online (eg, in institutional repositories or on their website) as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as increase the impact and citation of published work.