Drug allergy assessment at a university hospital and clinic

Drug allergy claims in children: from self‐reporting to confirmed diagnosis

“…This was the case in 21 of 60 (35%) children in our survey. The suspected drugs in our study were the same as those reported in other paediatric allergy clinics, and reflect prescribing patterns in children [6,19,20,[23][24][25]. Also, the clinical manifestations reported by the parents and healthcare professionals were similar to those reported by other groups [18,19,24,26,27].…”

“…However, when a proper diagnostic work-up was carried out, hypersensitivity could be excluded in most patients and was uncovered in only three of 60 cases (5%). A careful examination of clinical records can help to discard the label of hypersensitivity in numerous patients [18,22,23]. This was the case in 21 of 60 (35%) children in our survey.…”

“…The discrepancy between alleged DAll and the demonstration of a presumable immunological mechanism behind reactions has also been found by other authors using similar diagnostic work-up protocols [6,7,18,23,31,32]. It is important to notice that a positive provocation test can ascertain DHs but does not give any insight into the exact underlying mechanism of the reaction; thus, it does not allow the diagnosis of DAll.…”

Structural determinants of antibiotic allergy

“…Although not all adverse reactions to drugs are true allergic responses [2,3], reactions to anti-infective agents, particularly a number of antibiotics, account for a high proportion of type I, IgE-mediated drug allergies [4,5].…”

Drug allergy documentation-time for a change?

“…This may be due to either poor understanding of drug classes or lack of awareness about a patient's drug allergies which may arise from a lack of proper documentation [7]. Important causes of incomplete or incorrect allergic documentation include; failure to transfer information from old drug charts to new drug charts, failure to collect relevant information from patients or patients failing to report any allergies to the health practitioners, either due to forgetting their allergic reaction to the drug or inability to recognise the allergy [8,9]. This paper reports on the results of an audit on allergy documentation in a hospital setting.…”