Descriptive analysis of a simplified approach to low-risk drug hypersensitivity reactions

[Reproducibilidad clínica de reacciones de hipersensibilidad a fármacos en pruebas de exposición controlada]

Objective

To assess the reproducibility of symptoms in drug challenge tests.

Methods

The study included patients with positive cutaneous or challenge test throughout 2019. For each patient, clinical suspicion according to Karch-Lasagna algorithm was registered. Primary outcome was the reproducibility of symptoms in the provocation tests using a paired analysis of data with McNemar test.

Results

Eighty-nine patients were included, 16 of them presented more than one positive test. Thirty were skin tests positive and 75 reacted to provocation tests. Eighty nine percent of patients who reacted in challenge test were probably or possibly reactors according to Karch-Lasagna scale. Symptoms of initial reaction did not differ from those triggered in challenge tests.

Conclusions

Karch-Lasagna scale is useful in predicting the response to drug provocation tests. In most of the positive studies, results were suggested by clinical history and no differences were found between symptoms triggered in challenge test and that referred to in the previous reaction.

NSAID Hypersensitivity in the Pediatric Population: Classification and Diagnostic Strategies

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are among the most frequently administered drugs, mainly for their anti-pyretic, but also for pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory effects in children. NSAIDs are composed of structurally divergent subgroups of drugs with similar pharmacological and adverse effects. Aspirin originates from salicin and was the first synthesized analgesic. As a prototype of NSAIDs; aspirin-induced hypersensitivity reactions were first reported, but subsequently, other phenotypes of hypersensitivity reactions were also described with aspirin and other NSAIDs. There are certain challenging aspects of NSAID-hypersensitivity in the pediatric population that need to be further investigated. These include the effect of age on drug metabolism and the natural history of the various phenotypes of NSAID-hypersensitivity, the effect of certain co-factors (infections, exercise) on NSAID-hypersensitivity, and diagnostic clinical and laboratory biomarkers clarifying the endotypes. In recent years, a non-negligible number of case series, studies and expert panel reports have been published in this field with some novel features and diagnostic modalities in the pediatric population. With the current review; the clinical phenotypes and diagnostic and management modalities of suspected NSAID-induced hypersensitivity reactions in childhood and adolescence were explained and updated by examining past and current publications.