Asthma Allergy Immunology

Asthma Allergy Immunology

2023, Vol 21, Num, 2     (Pages: 095-101)

Evaluation of Re-Exposure to Culprit Drug and Occurrence of Reactions in Children with Drug Allergy

Kezban IPEK DEMIR 1, Sule BUYUK YAYTOKGIL 1, Betul KARAATMACA 1, Muge TOYRAN 1, Ersoy CIVELEK 1, Emine DIBEK MISIRLIOGLU 1,

1 Division of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, Ankara Bilkent City Hospital, Ankara, Turkey

DOI: 10.21911/aai.193
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Objective: Patients diagnosed with drug allergy should be carefully instructed to avoid using the culprit drug and provided with drug allergy passports to alert healthcare providers. However, accidental re-exposure to the offending drug may occur. To determine the rate of re-exposure to culprit drugs in patients diagnosed with drug allergy and the characteristics of reactions they experienced.

Materials and Methods: Patients who were diagnosed with drug allergy confirmed with diagnostic tests in the Pediatric Allergy Clinic between 2010 and 2020 were contacted by phone to obtain information on re-exposure to the offending drug after diagnosis and to determine whether the drug reuse was associated with any reaction.

Results: A total of 92 patients with confirmed drug allergy who were contacted by phone were included in the study. The mean age of the study patients was 152 months (range, 108-204) and 54.3% (n=50) of the patients were female. Culprit drugs were antibiotics in 68.5% (n=63), NSAIDs in 23.9% (n=22), antiepileptics in 4.3% (n=4), and other drugs in 3.3% (n=3) of the patients. All of the patients reported that they carry a drug allergy passport at all times and informed the physician about their drug allergy during an examination. Three of the study patients were re-exposed to the culprit drug and two of them had developed a reaction. One had urticaria and the other experienced anaphylaxis after re-exposure.

Conclusion: Patients with confirmed drug allergy should be advised to avoid re-exposure to the culprit drug and to carry their drug allergy passports at all times to alert physicians when they are prescribing a drug treatment.

Keywords : Confirmed drug allergy, re-exposure, child, NSAID, drug allergy passport