Background:

Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SSJ) and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (NET) are infrequent and life-threatening mucocutaneous diseases, which occur predominantly as adverse drug reactions.

Aim:

To describe the frequency of SSJ and NET diagnoses at a national level, estimate their incidence and describe their distribution among the different regions of the country.

Material and Methods:

Analysis of hospital discharge databases available at the website of the Chilean Ministry of Health searching for the tenth version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD 10) codes for SSJ or NET, between 2001 and 2015.

Results:

We analyzed 24,521,796 hospital discharges nationwide. SSJ caused 855 discharges, with a lethality of 2%. NET caused 128 discharges with a lethality of 16%. The global cumulative incidence was 3.87 cases per million inhabitants per year nationwide, with a trend line to increase incidence towards the regions of higher latitude.

Conclusions:

SSJ and NET are dermatological emergencies with high mortality. The increase in incidence towards regions at higher latitudes may suggest an association between these conditions and lower levels of vitamin D, correlated with latitude and exposure to UV radiation.