Drug-induced gingival hyperplasia: a retrospective study using spontaneous reporting system databases

Abstract

Background: Drug-induced gingival hyperplasia (DIGH) causes problems with chewing, aesthetics, and pronunciation, and leads to the deterioration of the patient's quality of life (QOL). Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of DIGH using spontaneous reporting system (SRS) databases.

Methods: We analyzed reports of DIGH from SRS databases and calculated the reporting odds ratios (RORs) of suspected drugs (immunosuppressants, calcium channel blockers, and anticonvulsants). The SRS databases used were the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) and the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report (JADER) database. With the data, we evaluated the time-to-onset profile and the hazard type using the Weibull shape parameter (WSP). Furthermore, we used the association rule mining technique to discover undetected relationships such as possible risk factors.

Results: The FAERS contained 5,821,716 reports. The RORs (95% confidence interval: CI) for cyclosporine, everolimus, sirolimus, mycophenolate mofetil, amlodipine, nifedipine, carbamazepine, clobazam, levetiracetam, phenobarbital, phenytoin, primidone, topiramate, and valproic acid, were 39.4 (95% CI: 30.3-51.2), 4.2 (1.7-10.0), 6.6 (2.5-17.7), 13.1 (7.2-23.2), 94.8 (80.0-112.9), 57.9 (35.7-94.0), 15.1 (10.3-22.3), 65.4 (33.8-126.7), 6.5 (3.6-11.8), 19.7 (8.8-44.0), 65.4 (52.4-82.9), 56.5 (21.1-151.7), 2.9 (1.1-7.7), and 17.5 (12.6-24.4), respectively. The JADER database contained 430,587 reports. The median time-to-onset of gingival hyperplasia values for immunosuppressants, calcium channel blockers, and anticonvulsants use were 71, 262, and 37 days, respectively. Furthermore, the 95% CI of the WSP β for anticonvulsants was over and excluded 1, which meant that they were wear-out failure type.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that DIGH monitoring of patients administered immunosuppressants, calcium channel blockers, or anticonvulsants is important. We demonstrated the potential risk of DIGH following the long-term use of calcium channel blocker over approximately 260 days. Based on the results of the association rule mining approach, patients with intellectual disability who are administered phenytoin should be monitored carefully. We recommend that patients who experience symptoms related to DIGH should be closely monitored.

Keywords: Association rule mining technique; Drug-induced gingival hyperplasia (DIGH); FAERS; JADER; Spontaneous reporting system; Time-to-onset analysis.

Fig. 1

Box-chart of time-to-onset analysis for immunosuppressants, calcium channel blockers, and anticonvulsants (the JADER database from April 2004 to November 2016 (n = 430,587))

Fig. 2

Association rules for gingival hyperplasia (the JADER database from April 2004 to November 2016 (n = 430,587)). The plot represents items and rules as vertices connected with directed edges. Relation parameters are typically added to the plot as labels on the edges or by varying the color or width of the arrows indicating the edges