Penicillin Allergy More Common in Women

Filed in archive Allergy to Drugs on October 2, 2007

Did you know that penicillin allergy is more likely to develop in women than in men? In addition, according to a study published published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, women are believed to be 2.6 times more likely than males to report multiple drug allergies.

After performing additional analysis, taking in consideration the effects of age, history of multiple drug allergies, and time elapsed from the initial penicillin reaction to the PST, female sex again conferred a significant risk of a positive PST reaction.

PST stands for positive skin test.