期刊連結：http://www.gouthyperuricemia.org

Objective: Allopurinol is a drug widely used in the treatment and prevention of gout attacks. However, some patients are hypersensitive to allopurinol as rare but potentially fatal adverse effects involving skin or other organs may occur. According to the manufacturer classification, allopurinol can be divided into three types including brand-name, general generic and BA/BE generic products. Thus, the aim is to investigate whether using different types of drugs has different incidence of side effects.

Methods: The National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) from years 2005 to 2009 was used to enroll a total of 37128 gout patient without kidney diseases history. Of those, 6417 patients were under allopurinol treatment. The risks of side effects were calculated by odds ratio (OR).

Results: Those patients using BA/BE generic allopurinol had higher risk of suffering from kidney disease (OR=2.52, p<0.001). The incidence of kidney disease in patients using brand-name allopurinol participants was not significantly different compared to controls (OR=2.11, p=0.347). However, brand-name allopurinol users had a higher risk of erythema multiform (OR=9.01, p=0.036).

Conclusion: Using BA/BE generic allopurinol has significantly higher risk of developing kidney disease, so it is important to examine kidney function and other side effects regularly.