Purpose: Asthma and recurrent wheezing (RW) have been identified as risk factors for anaphylaxis; however, little is known about the characteristics of anaphylaxis in children with a history of asthma or RW in Chinese children.
Patients and Methods: This was a retrospective, observational chart review of children who were diagnosed with anaphylaxis in a tertiary children’s hospital between 2014 and 2021. Patients’ demographics, symptoms, triggers and presence of physician-diagnosed asthma/RW history were collected from medical charts.
Results: A total of 399 anaphylactic reactions in 264 patients were analyzed; 119 patients (45.1%) had a history of asthma/RW. Food was the most common cause (85.5%, 341/399). Compared with patients without a history of asthma/RW, buckwheat-induced anaphylaxis was significantly more common in the asthma/RW group (9.4% vs 0.5%, p < 0.001), patients with a history of asthma/RW had higher rates of oropharyngeal symptoms (17.3% vs 8.6%, p = 0.011) and wheezing (34.5% vs 15.9%, p < 0.001). Ninety-one reactions (22.8%, 91/399) presented as severe anaphylaxis, but no difference existed between asthma/RW and non-asthma/RW groups. Children with a history of asthma/RW were more likely to receive inhaled β agonists than children without a history of asthma/RW (11.8% vs 2.5%, p = 0.003). A larger proportion of children without asthma/RW history were treated with epinephrine (11.7%) than children with asthma/RW history (6.9%).
Conclusion: Our finding revealed that different clinical profiles of anaphylaxis in children with and without a history of asthma/RW. Our study did not find that children with a history of asthma/RW have more severe anaphylactic reactions compared with children without asthma/RW. Buckwheat-induced anaphylaxis was more common in the asthma/RW group, wheezing and oropharyngeal symptoms affected a higher proportion of the asthma/RW group.
Keywords: anaphylaxis, asthma, epinephrine, wheezing, children