July 8, 2016

Current Trends in Prevalence and Mortality of Anaphylaxis

Opinion Statement
It has not been until the last decade that we have gained insight to the global epidemiology of anaphylaxis, due to the methodological difficulties of such studies. Heterogeneity in definitions, severity grading and study designs have hampered compiling robust data which can be consistently analysed and compared. Also, previous International Classification of Diseases coding for anaphylaxis has been suboptimal further hindering epidemiological studies.
Under-diagnosis is still a major pitfall in anaphylaxis, despite the efforts of national and international scientific societies to improve education of all health care professionals and implement clinical practice guidelines. Further collaborative projects are needed to overcome this gap. Currently, it seems that worldwide incidence of anaphylaxis and admission rates are increasing both in children and adults, according to recent studies. This may be partly due to an improvement in recognition, but most likely, due to a rise in allergic diseases in general and of food and drug allergy in particular. On the other hand, fatality rates seem to remain stable or to decrease slightly. We optimistically could hypothesize that this is a result of improved management, both acutely and in the long-term, but published data are still scarce. Prevention strategies are needed in order to halt this scaling trend; ongoing education on recognition and treatment will aid to improve anaphylaxis outcomes.

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