Abstract

The increase in frequency of anaphylaxis, an acute allergic reaction which may be fatal, might be explained by the rise in food allergy. We report a cohort of 44 children, aged 2 months to 15.5 years, who were admitted in a pediatric emergency unit for serious allergic events. Thirty-two percent, 86% and 66% presented hypotension, severe edema and respiratory distress, respectively. Three patients were admitted to the ICU. One-fourth of all children had an angioneurotic edema history, 1/3 were asthmatics and 41% had known allergy. Etiologies were: food allergy (42.5%), drugs (14.8%), respiratory allergy (9%), miscellaneous (14.8%), idiopathic (6.4%) and unknown because of incomplete investigations (12.4%). Three-fourths of food allergies were comprised of the expected protein categories (milk, nuts, eggs and fish). Nine children had an allergic relapse during the following months. We otherwise assessed that adrenaline was underused by the medical staff.