Women more susceptible to common drug allergies than men

Gender plays a role in the likelihood of allgeries to common medications, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The publication cites a recent study, reported in the journal Allergy, which found that women had significantly more allergies to common medications than men.

For the study, researchers tracked drug allergies in more than 1.7 million patients treated at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, both in Boston, from 1990 to 2013, according to the article.

More than a third of the patients had one or more drug allergies, and 31 percent of those patients were allergic to two or more drugs, according to the article. Researchers found all of the allergies were more prevalent among women.

The most commonly reported allergies were to penicillins, sulfonamide antibiotics (sulfa drugs) and opiates. Fifteen percent of women were allergic to penicillins compared with 10 percent of men, reports The Wall Street Journal. Women also had significantly more allergies to other classes of antibiotics, and to NSAIDs, including aspirin and ibuprofen.

The reason for the gender difference was unclear.

 

 

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