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. 2023 Apr;11(4):1184-1189.
doi: 10.1016/j.jaip.2023.01.029. Epub 2023 Feb 1.

Trends and Variation in Pediatric Anaphylaxis Care From 2016 to 2022

Timothy E Dribin  1 , Mark I Neuman  2 , David Schnadower  3 , Hugh A Sampson  4 , John J Porter  2 , Kenneth A Michelson  2
Affiliations

Trends and Variation in Pediatric Anaphylaxis Care From 2016 to 2022

Timothy E Dribin et al. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2023 Apr.

Abstract

Background: Variation in the use of treatments and hospitalization for anaphylaxis would suggest a lack of consensus in therapeutic approach.

Objective: To evaluate trends and practice variation in the emergency department (ED) care of children with anaphylaxis in a large US cohort.

Methods: We conducted a 48-site retrospective cohort study using the Pediatric Health Information System from January 2016 through September 2022. Children younger than 18 years with a primary diagnosis of anaphylaxis were included. Care trends were assessed using negative binomial regression modeling. Rates of medication use, hospitalizations, and revisits were reported as medians with interquartile ranges (IQRs).

Results: There were 42,909 ED visits for anaphylaxis, with a 4.2% per-year increase in visit incidence (95% CI, 1.8-6.7) during the study period. The median hospitalization rate was 3.5% (IQR, 2.2-6.0), and the 3-day ED revisit rate was 0.6% (IQR, 0.4-0.9). The hospital-level median use of therapies included intramuscular epinephrine (55.3%; IQR, 50.1-59.9), systemic steroids (73.8%; IQR, 63.9-81.4), antihistamines (59.9%; IQR, 53.5-65.5), H2-receptor antagonists (56.8%; IQR, 42.3-66.2), bronchodilators (15.1%; IQR, 12.5-17.0), inhaled epinephrine (1.1%; IQR, 0.6-1.9), and fluid boluses (19.8%; IQR, 11.3-29.3). Severe reactions requiring intensive care unit admission (1.5%; IQR, 0.8-2.2), vasopressors (0.3%; IQR, 0.0-0.6), and intubation (0.2%; IQR, 0.0-0.3) were rare.

Conclusions: ED visits for anaphylaxis increased during the study period, but hospitalization rates were low. Substantial variation exists between EDs regarding the use of anaphylaxis therapies, supporting the need for future research to evaluate the efficacy of these medications.

Keywords: Anaphylaxis; Antihistamines; Bronchodilators; Corticosteroids; Emergency department; Epinephrine; Hospitalizations; Trends; Variation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: H. A. Sampson receives funding to his institution for grants from the NIH/NIAID and is employed part-time by and has received stock options from DBV Technologies. T. E. Dribin, M. I. Neuman, D. Schnadower, J. Porter, K.A. Michelson report no conflicts of interest, no other relationships, or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Trends in pediatric ED visits and hospitalizations for anaphylaxis from 2016–2022 across 48 hospitals.
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Use of specific medications among children with anaphylaxis across 48 pediatric hospitals. Quartile coefficients of dispersion are shown for each therapy. Antihistamine (e.g., diphenhydramine, cetirizine); Glucocorticoid = systemic corticosteroids (e.g., prednisolone/prednisone, dexamethasone, methylprednisolone); H2-blocker = H2-receptor antagonists; IV fluid = IV fluid bolus; Bronchodilator = inhaled bronchodilators; inhaled epi = inhaled (racemic) epinephrine.
Figure 3:
Figure 3:
Trends in the use of anaphylaxis therapies from 2016 to 2022 across 48 pediatric hospitals. Glucocorticoid = systemic corticosteroids (e.g., prednisolone/prednisone, dexamethasone, methylprednisolone); Antihistamine (e.g., diphenhydramine, cetirizine); H2-blocker = H2-receptor antagonists; IV fluid = IV fluid bolus; Bronchodilator = inhaled bronchodilators; inhaled epi = inhaled (racemic) epinephrine; Vasopressor (e.g., dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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