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. 2025 Aug 21;15:30742. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-16062-w

Table 1.

Characteristics of included studies.

Study Characteristics
Bardin, 2018
 General information Publication format: journal publication (abstract)
Publication year (language): 2018 (English)
Country: Vietnam
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital
Inclusion criteria: used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: not reported
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 10 in SCAR group, 112 in tolerant group
Age (years): mean 55 (SD 12) in SCAR group, mean 46 (SD 12) in tolerant group
Sex (female): 2/10 (20%) in SCAR group, 0/112 (0%) in tolerant group
Race: Asian
Ethnic origin: South and Southeast Asia
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): mean 345 (SD 142) in SCAR group, mean 356 (SD 114) in tolerant group
Duration of allopurinol (days): not reported
 Outcomes SJS, SJS/TEN, TEN
Cao, 2012
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication year (language): 2012 (English)
Country: China
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital and population
Inclusion criteria: for hospital setting: used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: not reported
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 38 in SCAR group, 63 in tolerant group, 572 in population group
Age (years): mean 63.8 (SD 14.4) in SCAR group, mean 60.9 (SD 15.1) in tolerant group, not reported in population group
Sex (female): 12/38 (31.6%) in SCAR group, 6/63 (9.5%) in tolerant group, not reported in population group
Race: Asian
Ethnic origin: East and Central Asia
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): median 300 (IQR 100–600) in SCAR group, not clearly reported in tolerant group
Duration of allopurinol (days): mean 26.2 (SD 13.5) in SCAR group, mean 122.7 (SD 11.6) in tolerant group
 Outcomes DRESS, MPE, SJS/TEN
Cheng, 2015
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication year (language): 2015 (English)
Country: China
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital and population
Inclusion criteria: for hospital setting: (1) were Han Chinese; (2) used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: had history of bone marrow transplantation, chemotherapy or cancer
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 92 in SCAR group, 75 in tolerant group, 99 in population group
Age (years): mean 59.1 (SD 1.6) in SCAR group, mean 53.4 (SD 1.5) in tolerant group, mean 49.3 (SD 0.6) in population group
Sex (female): 32/92 (34.8%) in SCAR group, 4/75 (5.3%) in tolerant group, 35/99 (35.4%) in population group
Race: Asian
Ethnic origin: East and Central Asia
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): mean 186.5 (SD 13.7) in SCAR group, mean 289.8 (SD 15.2) in tolerant group
Duration of allopurinol (days): mean 22.0 (SD 1.5) in SCAR group, mean 1153.4 (SD 303.0) in tolerant group
 Outcomes DRESS, SJS, SJS/TEN, TEN
Chiu, 2012
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication date (language): 2012 (English)
Country: China
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital
Inclusion criteria: used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: were not Han Chinese
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 20 in SCAR group, 30 in tolerant group
Age (years): median 68.5 (IQR 33–96) in SCAR group, median 71.5 (IQR 41–97) in tolerant group
Sex (female): 9/20 (45.0%) in SCAR group, 4/30 (13.3%) in tolerant group
Race: Asian
Ethnic origin: East and Central Asia
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): median 250 (IQR 100–600) in SCAR group, median 200 (IQR 100–300) in tolerant group
Duration of allopurinol (days): median 24.5 (IQR 10–56) in SCAR group, median 1620 (365–5400) in tolerant group
 Outcomes DRESS, EMM, SJS, TEN
Cristallo, 2011
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication date (language): 2011 (English)
Country: Italy
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital and population
Inclusion criteria: White (Northern Italy)
Exclusion criteria: not clearly reported
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 7 in SCAR group, 115 in population group
Age: mean 64.0 (SD 9.7) in SCAR group, not reported in population group
Sex (female): 4/7 (57.1%) in SCAR group, not reported in population group
Race: White
Ethnic origin: Eastern/Western Europe
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): not reported
Duration of allopurinol (days): not reported
 Outcomes SJS, TEN
Do, 2015
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication date (language): 2015 (Vietnamese)
Country: Vietnam
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital and population
Inclusion criteria: for hospital setting: used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: not reported
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 22 in SCAR group, 75 in population group
Age (> 60 years): 10/22 (45.5%) in SCAR group, not reported in population group
Sex (female): 11/22 (50.0%) in SCAR group, not reported in population group
Race: Asian
Ethnic origin: South and Southeast Asia
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): median 300 (IQR 300–300) in SCAR group
Duration of allopurinol (days): not reported
 Outcomes DRESS, MPE, SJS/TEN
Do, 2019
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication date (language): 2019 (Vietnamese)
Country: Vietnam
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital
Inclusion criteria: (1) had gout; (2) used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: (1) using medications with high risk of allergy; (2) prior intermittent use of allopurinol
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 7 in SCAR group, 128 in tolerant group
Age: mean 49.0 in SCAR group, mean 46.3 in tolerant group
Sex (female): 2/7 (28.6%) in SCAR group, 0/128 (0.0%) in tolerant group
Race: Asian
Ethnicity: South and Southeast Asia
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): median 300 in SCAR group, median 300 in tolerant group
Duration of allopurinol (days): median 18 in SCAR group, median 260.5 in tolerant group
 Outcomes SJS, SJS/TEN
Do, 2020
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication date (language): 2020 (English)
Country: Vietnam
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital
Inclusion criteria: used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: not reported
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 31 in SCAR group, 395 in tolerant group
Age (years): mean 60.0 (SD 15.9) in SCAR group, mean 45.4 (SD 10.3) in tolerant group
Sex (female): 9/31 (29.0%) in SCAR group, 0/395 (0.0%) in tolerant group
Race: Asian
Ethnicity: South and Southeast Asia
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): mean 303.4 (SD 97.2) in SCAR group, mean 369.1 (SD 103.8) in tolerant group
Duration of allopurinol (days): not reported
 Outcomes DRESS, SJS/TEN
Gonçalo, 2013
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication date (language): 2013 (English)
Country: Portugal
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital and population
Inclusion criteria: for hospital setting: used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: not reported
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 25 in SCAR group, 23 in tolerant group, 3200 in population group
Age (years): mean 67.4 (SD 16.0) in SCAR group, mean 62.0 in tolerant group, mean 32.0 in population group
Sex (female): 14/25 (56.0%) in SCAR group, 7/23 (30.4%) in tolerant group, 65% in population group
Race: White
Ethnicity: Eastern/Western Europe
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): median 300 in SCAR and tolerant group
Duration of allopurinol (days): > 4 months in tolerant group
 Outcomes DRESS, SJS, SJS/TEN, TEN
Hung, 2005
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication date (language): 2005 (English)
Country: Taiwan
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital and population
Inclusion criteria: for hospital setting: used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: not reported
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 51 in SCAR group, 135 in tolerant group, 93 in population group
Age (years): median 66 (IQR 18–91) in SCAR group, median 56 (IQR 21–84) in tolerant group, not reported in population group
Sex (female): 27/51 (52.9%) in SCAR group, 10/135 (7.4%) in tolerant group, not reported in population group
Race: Asian
Ethnicity: East and Central Asia
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): median 100 (IQR 50–300) in SCAR group, median 150 (IQR 100–400) in tolerant group
Duration of allopurinol (days): median 26 (IQR 1–56) in SCAR group, median 22 (IQR 6–107) in tolerant group
 Outcomes DRESS, SJS, SJS/TEN, TEN
Jung, 2011
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication date (language): 2011 (English)
Country: South Korea
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital
Inclusion criteria: (1) had chronic kidney disease stage 3–5 or post-kidney transplantation; (2) used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: used allopurinol for < 60 days in tolerant group
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 9 in SCAR group, 432 in tolerant group
Age (years): mean 41.6 (SD 15.9) in SCAR group, mean 35.9 (SD 18.1) in tolerant group
Sex (female): 3/9 (33.3%) in SCAR group, 114/432 (26.4%) in tolerant group
Race: Asian
Ethnicity: East and Central Asia
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): mean 112.5 (SD 38.7) in SCAR group, mean 100 (SD 50.1) in tolerant group
Duration of allopurinol (days): mean 59.1 (SD 45.5) in SCAR group, mean 887.1 (SD 821.3) in tolerant group
 Outcomes DRESS, SJS
Kang, 2011
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication date (language): 2011 (English)
Country: South Korea
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital and population
Inclusion criteria: not clearly reported (for tolerant group: chronic kidney disease)
Exclusion criteria: not reported
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 25 in SCAR group, 57 in tolerant group, 485 in population group
Age (years): median 58 (IQR 35–80) in SCAR group, median 51 (IQR 20–76) in tolerant group, not reported in population group
Sex (female): 11/25 (44.0%) in SCAR group, 20/57 (35.1%) in tolerant group, not reported in population group
Race: Asian
Ethnicity: East and Central Asia
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): median 150 (IQR 100–600) in SCAR group, median 100 (IQR 50–200) in tolerant group
Duration of allopurinol (months): median 1.0 (IQR 0.2–5.3) in SCAR group, median 29.1 (IQR 6–72) in tolerant group
 Outcomes DRESS, SJS/TEN
Kaniwa, 2008
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication date (language): 2008 (English)
Country: Japan
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital and population
Inclusion criteria: not reported
Exclusion criteria: not reported
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 10 in SCAR group, 493 in population group
Age (years): median 74 (IQR 67–76.5) in SCAR group, not reported in other groups
Sex (female): 2/10 (20.0%) in SCAR group, not reported in other groups
Race: Asian
Ethnicity: East and Central Asia
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): not reported
Duration of allopurinol (days): not reported
 Outcomes SJS, TEN
Lonjou, 2008
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication date (language): 2008 (English)
Country: European countries
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital and population
Inclusion criteria: for hospital setting: used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: not reported
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 31 in SCAR group, 1822 in population group
Age (years): median 56 (IQR 40–71.5) in SCAR group, not reported in other groups
Sex (female): 13/31 (41.9%) in SCAR group, not reported in other groups
Race: White (87.1%), Asian (6.5%), African (3.2%), South American (3.2%)
Ethnicity: Eastern/Western Europe
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): not reported
Duration of allopurinol (days): not reported
 Outcomes SJS, SJS/TEN, TEN
Low, 2020
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication date (language): 2020 (English)
Country: Malaysia
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital
Inclusion criteria: (1) aged ≥ 18; (2) used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: not reported
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 55 in SCAR group, 42 in tolerant group
Age (years): mean 64.9 in SCAR group, mean 59.9 in tolerant group
Sex (female): not reported
Race: Asian
Ethnicity: South and Southeast Asia (59.8%), East and Central Asia (40.2%)
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): not reported
Duration of allopurinol (days): not reported
 Outcomes AGEP, DRESS, SJS/TEN
Ng, 2016
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication date (language): 2016 (English)
Country: Taiwan
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hopsital
Inclusion criteria: used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: not reported
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 146 in SCAR group, 285 in tolerant group
Age (years): mean 65 (SD 16) in SCAR group, mean 59 (SD 14) in tolerant group
Sex (female): 66/146 (45.2%) in SCAR group, 17/285 (6.0%) in tolerant group
Race: Asian
Ethnicity: East and Central Asia
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): not reported
Duration of allopurinol (days): not reported
 Outcomes DRESS, DRESS/SJS/TEN, MPE, SJS, SJS/TEN
Nguyen, 2021
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication date (language): 2021 (English)
Country: Vietnam
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital
Inclusion criteria: used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: not reported
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 81 in SCAR group, 74 in tolerant group
Age (years): mean 57.6 (SD 14.6) in SCAR group, mean 60.3 (SD 11.4) in tolerant group
Sex (female): 20/81 (24.7%) in SCAR group, 9/74 (12.2%) in tolerant group
Race: Asian
Ethnicity: South and Southeast Asia
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): mean 324.7 (SD 121.0) in SCAR group, mean 281.8 (SD ) in tolerant group
Duration of allopurinol (days): not reported
 Outcomes AGEP/SJS, DRESS, DRESS/SJS/TEN, SJS/TEN
Niihara, 2013
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication date (language): 2013 (English)
Country: Japan
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital
Inclusion criteria: used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: not reported
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 7 in SCAR group, 25 in tolerant group
Age (years): median 72 (IQR 68.5–78.5) in SCAR group, not reported in tolerant group
Sex (female): 2/7 (28.6%) in SCAR group, not reported in tolerant group
Race: Asian
Ethnicity: East and Central Asia
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): not reported
Duration of allopurinol (days): not reported
 Outcomes SJS, EMM
Park, 2016
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication date (language): 2016 (English)
Country: South Korea
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital
Inclusion criteria: used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: not reported
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 9 in SCAR group, 949 in tolerant group
Age (years): not reported
Sex (female): not reported
Race: Asian
Ethnicity: East and Central Asia
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): not reported
Duration of allopurinol (days): not reported
 Outcomes SJS/TEN
Pham, 2022
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication date (language): 2022 (English)
Country: Vietnam
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital and population
Inclusion criteria: for hospital setting: used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: (1) bullous autoimmune skin diseases; (2) erythema multiforme/erythema infectiosum; (3) Kawasaki disease; (4) bone marrow transplantation; (5) acropustulosis; (6) Von Zumbusch psoriasis; and (7) concomitant use of another drug of high allergy potential at SCARs onset
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 100 in SCAR group, 183 in tolerant group, 810 in population group
Age (years): mean 58.5 (SD 14.2) in SCAR group, mean 55.2 (SD 12.2) in tolerant group, not reported in population group
Sex (female): 24/100 (24.0%) in SCAR group, 29/183 (15.8%) in tolerant group, not reported in population group
Race: Asian
Ethnicity: South and Southeast Asia
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (> 150 mg/day): 96/100 (96.0%) in SCAR group, 164/183 (89.6%) in tolerant group
Duration of allopurinol (days): not reported
 Outcomes DRESS, DRESS/SJS/TEN, SJS, SJS/TEN, TEN
Saksit, 2017
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication date (language): 2017 (English)
Country: Thailand
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital
Inclusion criteria: used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: not reported
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 86 in SCAR group, 182 in tolerant group
Age (years): median 68 (IQR 28–84) in SCAR group, median 66 (IQR 29–91) in tolerant group
Sex (female): 45/86 (52.3%) in SCAR group, 39 (21.4%) in tolerant group
Race: Asian
Ethnicity: South and Southeast Asia
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): median 100 (IQR 50–300) in SCAR group, median 100 (IQR 50–400) in tolerant group
Duration of allopurinol (days): median 19 (IQR 2–60) in SCAR group, median not reported in tolerant group (mean > 180)
 Outcomes DRESS, SJS/TEN
Sukasem, 2016
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication date (language): 2016 (English)
Country: Thailand
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital and population
Inclusion criteria: for hospital setting: used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: not reported
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 30 in SCAR group, 100 in tolerant group, 1095 in population group
Age (years): median 73 (IQR 30–88) in SCAR group, not reported in other groups
Sex (female): 13/30 (43.3%) in SCAR group, not reported in other groups
Race: Asian
Ethnicity: South and Southeast Asia
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): mean 239.9 (SD 87.0) in SCAR group, not reported in other groups
Duration of allopurinol (days): mean 16.4 (SD 14.3), not reported in other groups
 Outcomes DRESS, MPE, SJS/TEN
Tassaneeyakul, 2009
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication year (language): 2009 (English)
Country: Thailand
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital
Inclusion criteria: (1) used allopurinol; (2) agreed to participate
Exclusion criteria: not reported
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 27 in SCAR group, 54 in tolerant group
Age (years): median 65 (IQR 38–81) in SCAR group, median 63.5 (IQR 46–90) in tolerant group
Sex (female): 12/27 (44.4%) in SCAR group, 11/54 (20.4%) in tolerant group
Race: Asian
Ethnicity: South and Southeast Asian
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): not reported
Duration of allopurinol (days): median 14 (IQR 3–50) in SCAR group, median 780 (IQR 90–18,000) in tolerant group
 Outcomes SJS, SJS/TEN, TEN
Tohkin, 2013
 General information Publication format: journal publication (full-text)
Publication year (language): 2013 (English)
Country: Japan
 Design Type: case–control study
Setting: hospital and population
Inclusion criteria: for hospital setting: used allopurinol
Exclusion criteria: not reported
 Patient demographics Number of patients investigated: 18 in SCAR group, 986 in population group
Age (years): mean 72.3 (SD 10.0) in SCAR group, not reported in population group
Sex (female): 6/18 (33.3%) in SCAR group, not reported in population group
Race: Asian
Ethnicity: East and Central Asia
 Exposure Dosing of allopurinol (mg/day): not reported
Duration of allopurinol (days): mean 21.7 (SD 11.9), not reported in population group
 Outcomes SJS, TEN

AGEP: acute generalised exanthematous pustulosis; DRESS: drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms; EMM: erythema multiforme major; IQR: interquartile range; MPE: maculopapular eruption; SCAR: severe cutaneous adverse reaction; SD: standard deviation; SJS: Stevens–Johnson syndrome; SJS/TEN: Stevens–Johnson/toxic epidermal necrolysis overlap syndrome; and TEN: toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN).

In the context of SCARs, DRESS can also be referred as drug hypersensitivity syndrome (DHS), drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome (DIHS), or hypersensitivity syndrome (HSS). To ensure consistency, outcomes that were reported as DHS, DIHS, or HSS were classified as DRESS.