H Ott

L Lange

M Worm

S Gernert

S Hompes

Clinical and Translational Allergy

PubMed

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ORAL PRESENTATION Open Access
Drug anaphylaxis in children – data of the
German-speaking anaphylaxis registry
S Gernert1*, M Worm2, H Ott3, S Hompes2, L Lange1
From Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Meeting (FAAM 2013)
Nice, France. 7-9 February 2013
Background
Anaphylaxis caused by drugs seems to be less common
in children compared with adults. The anaphylaxis-
registry collects data of patients with severe allergic
reactions from 89 allergy centres in Germany, Austria
and Switzerland. Aim of this study was to investigate
the circumstances and relevance of drug-induced ana-
phylaxis in children.
Methods
The analysed data included anaphylactic reactions regis-
tered from July 2006 until February 2012.
The data are delivered by a password-controlled inter-
net-based-questionnaire. Only severe reactions with pul-
monary and/or cardiovascular symptoms are accepted.
704 of the 2926 anaphylactic reactions occurred in chil-
dren. They were caused by foods (406 cases), insects
(180 cases), drugs (50 cases) and others (68 cases).
Results
19 of 50 cases of drug induced anaphylaxis were induced
by subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT). In the 31
remaining cases most frequent triggers were analgetics
(n=14) and antibiotics (n=10) followed by a small num-
ber of other drugs such as fentanyl and lidocaine. Nearly
all of the children suffered from respiratory symptoms
(86%) in addition to skin symptoms, 50% had cardiovas-
cular symptoms and only a small number (22%) had gas-
trointestinal symptoms. Most of the anaphylactic
reactions after SCIT started at the location (medical cen-
ter, hospital) where the SCIT was administered; only 3 of
the SCIT-induced reactions started after the patients left
the medical center. Most of the anaphylactic reactions
triggered by other drugs took place at home. Only 35%
occurred in a medical center or hospital.
Although only severe reactions were included, only a
small number of the children (12%, 42% of the reactions
related to SCIT) received intramuscular, intravenous or
inhalative adrenaline. Most of the children (67%, 84%)
were treated with antihistamines and/or corticosteroids.
Inhaled beta-2-agonists were part of the anaphylaxis
therapy in only 19% (SCIT 42%).
38% of the children received an emergency kit after
the anaphylactic reaction. This kit included self-inject-
able adrenaline in 20%, antihistamine in 32%, inhaled
beta-2-agonists in 14% and corticosteroids in 36%.
Conclusion
Drug-induced anaphylaxis in children is mainly triggered
by analgetics, antibiotics and SCIT. Most of the reac-
tions take place at the children’s home and not in hospi-
tals or medical centers.
Disclosure of interest
None declared.
Author details
1Department of Pediatrics, St. Marien-Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
2Department of Dermatology and Allergy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin
Berlin, Berlin, Germany. 3Department of Pediatric Dermatology, Catholic
Children’s Hospital Wilhelmstift Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
Published: 25 July 2013
doi:10.1186/2045-7022-3-S3-O2
Cite this article as: Gernert et al.: Drug anaphylaxis in children – data of
the German-speaking anaphylaxis registry. Clinical and Translational
Allergy 2013 3(Suppl 3):O2.
1Department of Pediatrics, St. Marien-Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
Gernert et al. Clinical and Translational Allergy 2013, 3(Suppl 3):O2
http://www.ctajournal.com/content/3/S3/O2
© 2013 Gernert et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


Drug anaphylaxis in children – data of the German-speaking anaphylaxis registry

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Drug anaphylaxis in children – data of the German-speaking anaphylaxis registry

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