Asthma Allergy Immunology

Asthma Allergy Immunology

2014, Vol 12, Num, 2     (Pages: 091-096)

Approach to drug allergy in family physicians

Mehmet Halil ÇELİKSOY 1, Ayhan SÖĞÜT 1, Erdem TOPAL 2, Ferhat ÇATAL 2, Mustafa Kürşat ŞAHİN 3, Gülay ŞAHİN 3, Recep SANCAK 1, Özlem KÖKEN 4, Mustafa Fevzi DİKİCİ 3,

1 Ondokuz Mayıs Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Çocuk Sağlığı ve Hastalıkları Anabilim Dalı, Çocuk Allerji ve İmmünoloji Bilim Dalı, Samsun, Türkiye
2 İnönü Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Turgut Özal Tıp Merkezi, Çocuk Sağlığı ve Hastalıkları Anabilim Dalı, Çocuk Allerji ve Astım Bilim Dalı, Malatya, Türkiye
3 Ondokuz Mayıs Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Aile Hekimliği, Anabilim Dalı, Samsun, Türkiye
4 Ondokuz Mayıs Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Çocuk Sağlığı ve Hastalıkları Anabilim Dalı, Samsun, Türkiye

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Objective: Allergic reactions that occurring as a result of drug allergy can result in anaphylaxis, even death. These reactions often evaluated by the primary care physicians. Primary care physicians who often encounter with drug allergy reactions should be able to evaluate the patients with drug allergy, if necessary, make first emergency intervention, and refer patients to an allergy specialist for further evaluation and treatment. In this study, we aimed to measure general approach and the level of knowledge family physicians about allergic reactions occurred after the drug allergy.

Materials and Methods: Two hundred and five family physicians who work in the region of Malatya and Samsun participated in this study. We interviewed face-to-face with family physicians about drug allergy. After that, family physicians completed a questionnaire previously prepared by allergy specialists about drug allergy.

Results: The median age was 38 years old (min: 24, max: 61), median length of professional experience was 13 (min: 1, max: 35) years old and 124 (60.5%) of participants were male gender. 90.2% of family physicians in this study expressed to encounter with drug allergy before. 52.2% of them explained to cut medication in case of allergic reaction that developed after drug intake and to refer patients to allergy specialist for further investigation. 39.5% of the participants didn`t know that a systemic reaction will be able to occur after local drug using. 56.6% of family physicians stated that they needn`t to cut responsible medication in mild drug reactions and only 35.1% of them knew that severe drug reactions can be fatal. Only 31.7% of participants explained that adrenaline is the first option when anaphylactic reaction occurs after drug allergy. Conclusion: The knowledge of primary care physicians about treatment and management of patients with drug allergy is insufficient. Therefore, it will be useful to be educated the primary care physicians about drug allergies.

Keywords : Drug allergy, primary care physician, anaphylaxis