Drug use and aplastic anaemia: the French experience. French Cooperative Group for the Epidemiological Study of Aplastic Anaemia.

The cause of the rare and severe condition of aplastic anaemia is largely unknown, although certain drugs have been implicated as possible aetiological factors, mostly through the evidence of case reports. A case-control study was conducted in metropolitan France between 1985 and 1988 to investigate aetiological factors in aplastic anaemia. It was conducted in parallel with the establishment of a national register of the incidence of aplastic anaemia, which started in May 1984. The controls used in the study consisted of 2 hospitalized controls (i.e. patients admitted to hospital at the same time as the case) and a neighbour control named by the case. All three controls were matched for age and sex, and were interviewed by the same investigator as the case. A total of 147 cases, 287 hospitalized controls and 108 neighbour controls were interviewed. An association of varying degrees was noted between aplastic anaemia and the following conditions or treatments: clinical hepatitis during the past 6 months; history of chronic immune disorder (mainly rheumatoid arthritis); gold salts and D-penicillamine; colchicine and allo-thiopurinol; acetaminophen and salicylates. This survey confirmed the vanishing role of previously known toxic agents in the aetiology of aplastic anaemia. Some differences observed between the results of the present study and those published previously suggest that targeted studies on each category of drug according to specific disease areas should be initiated.