A retrospective study of antihypertensives in pemphigus: a still unchartered odyssey particularly between thiols, amides and phenols

INTRODUCTION Autoimmune pemphigus diseases comprise several entities with serious prognoses, including the pemphigus vulgaris (PV) group and pemphigus foliaceus (PF) group. Antihypertensives are suspected to be one of the factors triggering/sustaining pemphigus. Here, the data of pemphigus patients regarding arterial hypertension (AH) and taking potentially noxious drugs were statistically analyzed in a setting of a Polish university dermatology department. MATERIAL AND METHODS Medical histories of pemphigus patients (40 admissions of 24 female patients - 13 PV, 11 PF; and 102 admissions of 38 male patients - 24 PV, 14 PF), diagnosed at both immunopathological and biochemical-molecular levels, were studied. RESULTS Ten of 16 (62.50%) AH-positive PV patients received known PV triggers/sustainers 11 times (1-3 per patient). Fourteen of 15 (93.33%) AH-positive PF patients received known PF triggers/sustainers 21 times (1-3 per patient). No differences in numbers of patients taking potentially culprit drugs were shown between PV and PF (Fisher's exact test: p = 0.0829; Yates' χ(2) test: p = 0.1048). The most frequently used culprit drugs were ramipril in PV and enalapril in PF. On average, each PV/PF AH-positive patient received 3.161 different antihypertensives in his/her history of admissions (2.155 antihypertensives per admission). CONCLUSIONS Drug triggering should be suspected in every case of newly diagnosed or exacerbated pemphigus, as eliminating possible PV/PF triggers/sustainers may alleviate the clinical symptoms and enable the decrease of dose/range of immunosuppressants regardless of pemphigus form. Eliminating possible drug PV/PF triggers/sustainers may alleviate the clinical symptoms and enable the decrease of dose/range of immunosuppressants regardless of pemphigus form.