[Adverse reactions to immunotherapy in pediatric patients]. / Reacciones adversas a la inmunoterapia en pacientes pediátricos.

BACKGROUND: Specific immunotherapy involves administration of allergenic extract in order to reach clinical tolerance of the causal allergens in patients with allergic conditions. When administered, it can provoke side effects. OBJECTIVE: To identify systemic reactions after specific immunotherapy administration. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective trial from January 1996 to December 2000. We reviewed patients' files with an allergic disease diagnosis that received immunotherapy. We looked for adverse reactions at 20 minutes and immunotherapy sheets report. The results were analyzed by central and dispersion trends. RESULTS: Annual average was of 1,168 applications, 51 (23%) had an adverse reaction. Average age was of 9.5 +/- 2.2 years. 76.5% were male. 125 (5.7%) patients abandoned the treatment and 2,025 (94.3%) continued it. The frequency of intermittent mild asthma/allergic rhinitis was of 51%, persistent moderate asthma/allergic rhinitis, 9.8, and allergic rhinitis, 9.8%. The most common allergen was Dermatophagoides (80.4%). The most frequent reactions were a wheal (64.7%) and exacerbation of clinic baseline (25.5%). CONCLUSIONS: Percentage of patients with an immunotherapy immediate reaction was of 2.3% according to literature reports (2.1%).

[Quality of life in children with allergic rhinitis before and after being treated with specific immunotherapy (cases and controls)]. / Calidad de vida en niños con rinitis alérgica antes y después de ser tratados con inmunoterapia específica (casos y controles).

BACKGROUND: Rhinitis is the most frequent allergic disease in children. Symptoms may affect importantly life quality. Measures to avoid allergens when possible and the use of drugs are an important part of the treatment; however, specific immunotherapy is the only treatment altering the natural course of the disease. OBJECTIVE: To assess if specific immunotherapy improves life quality in children with allergic rhinitis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Patients who attended to the allergy department during August and September 2002, and who fulfilled the inclusion criteria, were included. Two groups of treatment were formed: group A received specific immunotherapy with standardized allergenic extracts, from IPI ASAC Mexico. They started with a concentration of 0.07 bioequivalent units (BEU), with twice-a-week-application with increases of 10 (0.7, 7 and 80 BEU) each seven weeks up to maintenance dose of 700 BEU at six months. Group B only was given pharmacological treatment. Paediatric Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaires, specific to children with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, validated for its use in Spanish in Mexican children by the department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics of Mc Master University, were applied to all patients. RESULTS: Twenty-seven patients were included in each group, 14 males, adjusted for age with a correlation coefficient (r2) = 0.9799. In both groups, mean age was of 11 years 6 months (group A: 7 to 16 years, group B: 7 to 17 years). Eighteen (44.4%) and fifteen patients (33.3%), of groups A and B respectively, had persistent mild rhinitis, and 9 (55.6%) and 12 cases (66.7%) of groups A and B, respectively, had moderate persistent rhinitis. All of them were sensitized to domiciliary allergens. As to life quality a high odds ratio (OR) was found when assessing patients six months after treatment, especially in nasal symptoms such as pruritus (OR = 6.8) and obstruction (OR = 5.9). Also for practical symptoms the OR was high: carving eyes and nose (OR = 7), blowing the nose (OR = 4.8) and carrying disposable tissues (OR = 4.7). OR for other symptoms was as follows: thirst and throatitch, OR = 4; irritability, OR = 6.2, and ocular pruritus, OR = 3.1. Patients without immunotherapy were likely to use more drugs (OR = 6.4) than those receiving immunotherapy. CONCLUSION: We did not find controlled studies on life quality with the use of immunotherapy in children. In this study, specific immunotherapy was found to improve life quality in children with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, especially in nasal symptoms, such as pruritus and obstruction, as well as in practical symptoms. These results are similar to those by Fell, who found that 92% patients referred an improvement of nasal symptoms, a better labor performance and a lesser use of drugs after four months of using immunotherapy.

[Hypersensitivity detected by skin tests to food in allergic patients in the Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez]. / Hipersensibilidad por prueba cutánea a alimentos en pacientes alérgicos en el Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of food allergy depends on the feeding practices of different parts of the world. Peanuts and nuts cause a great part of allergies in the United States; in Spain and Portugal are commonly due to fish, milk; in Italy seafood and mustard in France. In Mexico we don't know the frequency of food allergy and involved groups of age or specific foods. OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of immediate hypersensitivity for foods in allergic children from Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective study was performed between January 1995 to December 1999. The skin prick test (SPT) to food was reviewed according to Aas classification. Male and female from 12 months to 18 years old were reviewed. RESULTS: We documented 1,419 patients with allergy. Of them 442 (31%) had positive skin prick test (SPT) to some of the 33 tested foods. The average age of the study group was of 12.8 years. The most affected was from 4 to 7 years (49%); the second group from 1 to 3 years with 23.7%, and the third was from 12 to 17 years with 13.5%. Fish, milky, seafood, soy, beans, orange, onion, tomato, chicken, nut, lettuce and strawberry, were responsible for 58% of the total of allergic reactions. Of those fish, milk, seafood, soy and orange (39%) had the highest frequency. Hypersensitivity to several foods is low, finding just one allergen in 50% of the cases, two allergens in 25%, three allergens in 9%, four in 7%, five in 5% and more than 6 only in 3% of cases. CONCLUSION: We concluded that almost any kind of food reaction seen in our study was due to alimentary habits of different populations, socioeconomic status, and availability of foods. This indicates the diversity of costumes in Mexican people due to the wide geographical area and cultural background of our country. Results could be increased because of only 33 allergens were tested.

Efecto temprano y tardío de la prueba cutánea con Blatella germanica (Bg) y/o Periplaneta americana (Pa) sobre el volumen espiratorio forzado y el flujo espiratorio máximo en niños con alergia respiratoria / Early and late effect of the skin prick test with cockroach (Blatella germanica and/or periplaneta american) on the forced expiratory volume and peak expiration flow in children with respiratory allergy

Introducción. Se ha demostrado que los alergenos de cucaracha sensibilizan a los niños atópicos y frecuentemente predisponen al desarrollo de asma grave a temprana edad. Objetivo: evaluar los cambios tempranos como tardíos sobre el volumen espiratorio forzado (VEF1) y flujo espiratorio máximo (FEM) en niños con alergia respiratoria y prueba cutánea (PC) positiva a antígeno de cucaracha.Material y métodos. Estudio prospectivo longitudinal cruzado doble ciego controlado en niños de 6 a 16 años de edad con un VEF1 y FEM basal mayor de 80 por ciento de su predicho y PC positiva exclusivamente a Blattella germanica (Bg) y/o Periplaneta americana (Pa). En diferentes momentos se midió el VEF1 y FEM antes de la PC con Ba y/o Pa, o con placebo (solución glicerinada) y se realizaron espirometrías y flujimetrías a los 15 min 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24 y 48 horas. Análisis estadístico: se utilizó t de Student para muestras pareadas.Resultados. Se estudiaron 30 pacientes con PC positiva a alergeno de cucaracha: 21 hombres y 9 mujeres; 20 presentaron PC positiva a Bg y Pa, 8 a Bg y 2 a Pa. Catorce de 30 pacientes presentaron caída del VEF1 a los 15 min, 13 de ellos la presentaron también a las 6, 12 y 24 horas después de la PC con antígeno. Sólo 3 pacientes presentaron esa caída a los 15 min de la prueba con placebo. En todas las mediciones del grupo estudiado con alergeno de cucaracha se encontró caída del VEF1 mayor de 15 por ciento (P=0.02). En el FEM no se encontró diferencia estadística significativa en ninguno de los grupos (P=0.5).Conclusiones. La medición del VEF1 fue más eficaz para detectar caídas, tanto tempranas como tardías. Por el contrario el FEM no fue sensible para detectar cambios en la función pulmonar después de reto cutáneo con alergenos de cucaracha.

Determinación de hipersensibilidad inmediata a pólenes en pacientes alérgicos del Distrito Federal / Determination of immediate hypersensibility a pollens in allergic patients from Federal District

Antecedentes: la hipersensibilidad inmediata mediada por IgE representa el mecanismo de daño tipo 1 según la clasificación original de Gell y Coombs. Material y método: estudio observacional, descriptivo, transversal en el que se revisaron los expedientes de 1250 pacientes del Servicio de Alergia del Hospital Infantil de México con diagnóstico de rinitis alérgica; asma; asma y rinitis alérgica. Resultados: de los 1250 pacientes estudiados 468 fueron del sexo femenino (37.44 por ciento) y 782 (62.58 por ciento) del masculino con una edad media en ambos casos de 7.9 ñ3.5 DE. En cuanto al resultado de las pruebas cutáneas 154 (12.32 por ciento) fueron negativos y 1096 (87.68 por ciento) positivos a uno o más antígenos. Conclusiones: los resultados obtenidos señalan la importancia de realizar mayor número de estudios que relacionen no sólo los porcentajes de positividad en la determinación de hipersensibilidad inmediata, sino también en la frecuencia de pólenes en el medio en el que se desenvuelve el paciente, junto con las épocas de polinización a lo largo de la República Mexicana, en la población pediátrica y de adultos, para efectuar pruebas cutáneas seleccionadas según la zona e instituir un tratamiento específico y adecuado para cada paciente.

Comparación de dos métodos de pruebas cutáneas para el diagnóstico de enfermedades alérgicas / Comparative study in intradermal and epicutaneos skin tests to allergic diagnosis

El diagnóstico de la enfermedad alérgica se hace a partir de una historia clínica que se complementa por pruebas cutáneas (PC) para determinar el alergeno causal. En vista de las diversas técnicas que existen, consideramos necesario evaluar la sensibilidad y especificidad de las epicutáneas (EP) e intradérmicas (ID) en pediatría. Se realizó un estudio abierto, prospectivo, transversal, en 40 pacientes con diagnóstico de asma y/o rinitis alérgicas, que fueron sujetos de dos tipos de pruebas (ID y EP), con 10 alergenos de los laboratorios Freeman (Dermatophagoides pt, Fraxinus, Ligustrum, Quereus, Schinus, Phleum, Amaranthus, Artemisa, Ambrosia, Alternaria y Hormodendrum). De los 40 pacientes estudiados, la edad media fue de 12 años. En los aeroalergenos positivos de árboles, pastos, maleza y hongos no se encontró diferencia significativa al comparar las dos técnicas, a diferencia de Dermatophagoides pt que tuvo una sensibilidad de 92.5 por ciento y especificidad de 100 por ciento para EP mientras que para las ID fue del 100 y 96.6 por ciento. Así, entonces, concluimos que las PC ID tienen una mayor sensibilidad y las EP más especificidad, recomendando por este motivo realizar inicialmente pruebas cutáneas y epicutáneas