RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Anaphylaxis is a severe, potentially fatal, systemic allergic reaction. But its real-world evidence is limited. Both treatment of allergic symptoms and prevention of future anaphylactic episodes are clinically important. We have strongly recommended that patients visit our outpatient allergy clinic. OBJECTIVE: To classify the clinical features and triggers of anaphylaxis in patients (≥16 years old) in an urban area of Tokyo. METHODS: We used the medical records to analyze patients with anaphylaxis as the primary diagnosis who visited the emergency department in our hospital from January 2015 through December 2017. RESULTS: Among approximately 60000 patients who visited the emergency department, 181 subjects (mean age, 43.0; 44% male) were diagnosed with anaphylaxis. Fourteen of those patients had a systolic blood pressure of lower than 90mmHg. Upon arrival, 126 patients were treated with adrenaline. All patients recovered from the anaphylactic episode. Subsequently, 133 patients visited our outpatient allergy clinic. The trigger of the anaphylaxis were assessed; the most popular trigger was foods (n = 78), followed by drugs (n = 38), insect stings/bites or animal bites (n = 3) and others (n = 11). Adrenaline auto-injectors were prescribed to 84 patients. CONCLUSION: It is important for patients with anaphylaxis to undergo allergy testing after discharge from an emergency department. Collaboration between emergency medicine and allergy departments may be helpful for improving the patients' QOL through effective instruction and prevention of recurrent anaphylaxis.