Study Flags Risk Factors for Near-Fatal Anaphylaxis

TOPLINE:

A study of more than 2600 cases of food-induced anaphylaxis found that near-fatal and fatal reactions occurred in 1.7% of cases and that a history of asthma or having peanut as the trigger predicted greater anaphylaxis severity.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers retrospectively analyzed cases of food-induced anaphylaxis recorded in a French database from 2002 to 2021 and compared near-fatal and fatal cases (grade 4) with severe cases (grade 3) to identify risk factors associated with higher severity.
• They focused on 725 patients (mean age, 28.3 years; 53.7% men; 46.9% children) who had grade 3 anaphylaxis (n = 681) or grade 4 anaphylaxis (n = 44; 19 deaths).

TAKEAWAY:

• Peanuts were the most frequent trigger, accounting for 101 cases (13.9%) of all grade 3 or grade 4 cases.
• Asthma diagnosis (odds ratio [OR], 3.41; P =.002) and having peanut as the culprit food trigger (OR, 3.46; P =.014) were significant predictors of grade 4 anaphylaxis.
• Of the grade 4 cases, 26 occurred in children and 18 occurred in adults.

IN PRACTICE:

Patients at a higher risk for severe reactions “should benefit from personalized management strategies such as oral immunotherapy and biotherapy,” the authors of the study wrote.

SOURCE:

Guillaume Pouessel, MD, PhD, with Centre Hospitalier de Roubaix, Roubaix, France, was the corresponding author of the study, which was published online on May 29 in Clinical & Experimental Allergy.

LIMITATIONS:

The study lacked information about treatment timing, adrenaline dosing, asthma control, and biomarkers. Cases recorded by the Allergy-Vigilance Network do not capture all cases of anaphylaxis in France, the researchers noted.

DISCLOSURES:

Some authors reported providing consultation and speaker services or receiving grants, consultation fees, or payment for presentations from pharmaceutical companies.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.