Epidemiology of anaphylaxis: is the trend still going up?

Abstract

Purpose of review To understand the current global scale of anaphylaxis and identify possible strategies to increase the accuracy of epidemiological data. Recent findings Anaphylaxis mortality and morbidity statistics may gain new perspectives with the global implementation of the ICD-11. Improving the quality of epidemiological data related to anaphylaxis should clarify some areas of uncertainty about risk factors, leading to better targeting of strategies to protect those patients at risk, and support decision-making to facilitate health care planning and implementation of public health measures to prevent anaphylaxis. Summary The true rate of anaphylaxis is unknown due to a number of factors, such as misdiagnosis, miscoding and undernotification. Moreover, there is lack of information about anaphylaxis epidemiology in many countries. Difficulties on collecting accurate and comparable data should be acknowledged and anaphylaxis data can vary widely. Currently, most robust data are derived from hospitalization datasets and national mortality databases. Anaphylaxis accounts for up to 0.26% of overall hospital admissions. It is suggested that the number of hospital admissions for anaphylaxis is increasing in many countries, both with respect to all-causes of anaphylaxis and by trigger, but the mortality rate remains low. However, there are still great challenges in capturing quality anaphylaxis mortality and morbidity statistics. Better understanding of anaphylaxis trends should clarify some areas of uncertainty about risk factors and prospect effective prevention strategies. As the knowledge derived from populations is key information for more realistic decision-making, the construction of the new section addressed to anaphylaxis in the ICD-11 will allow the collection of more accurate epidemiological data to support high quality management of patients, and to better facilitate health care planning to implement public health measures, reduce the morbidity and mortality attributable to anaphylaxis.

Current update on anaphylaxis: anaphylaxis management in recent guidelines

“…There are differences in prevalence and causes throughout the world probably due to distinct environmental factors which might act differently to affect risk of different types of allergies according to genetic predisposition in diverse areas of the globe and that would account for the rise in the prevalence more rapidly than expected (table I) (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13). Data from the European anaphylaxis registry revealed that over one-quarter of cases (25%) occurred in patients under 18 years of age (14). Although the fatality rate attributable to anaphylaxis remains low (15), the frequency of hospitalization for food and drug-induced anaphylaxis has been increasing in recent years (7,16,17).…”

Avaliação de habilidades clínicas de estudantes de medicina no diagnóstico e manejo da anafilaxia

“…A CID-11 veio para corrigir essa falha e teve sua entrada oficial na prática médica em janeiro de 2022. Nela, anafilaxia faz parte do capítulo 4, doenças do sistema imune, facilitando estudos epidemiológicos futuros (WATANABE AS, et al, 2021;TANNO LK, et al, 2023). Apesar de todas estas limitações, na última atualização do Practice Parameter da American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology/American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI) inferiu-se que a prevalência global da anafilaxia seja de 1,6% a 5,1%, com média de incidência de 50 a 112 episódios por 100.000 pessoas/ano (SHAKER MS, et al, 2020).…”