Prescribing adrenaline auto-injectors in Slovenian children

Results Adrenaline auto-injector was prescribed in 258 children (66% boys and 34% girls). In 120 of them adrenaline auto-injector was prescribed de novo. 2% of them were babies, 31% 1 to 5 years old, 52% 6 to 14 years old and 15% 15 to 18 years old. In 66% adrenaline auto-injector was prescribed because of anaphylaxis, in 27% because of urticaria or/and angioedema and in 7% because of other reasons such as food allergy and bronchial asthma or/and recombinant based IgE testing results. In 174 children (67%) adrenaline auto-injector was prescribed because of food allergy, most frequently because of allergy to peanuts (81 children), egg (35 children), tree nuts (19 children) and cow milk (14 children). 77% of peanut allergic children had IgE antibodies to rArah h 2. Among food allergic children 44% had multiple food allergies, 40% asthma and 11% suffered more than one immediate reaction. In 60 children (23%) adrenaline auto-injector was prescribed because of insect sting (49 had anaphylaxis and eleven urticaria or/and angioedema). Allergy to wasp or hornet venom was more frequently confirmed (in 34 children) than allergy to honeybee venom (23 children). 3 children had negative testing results after anaphylaxis due to a sting. In four children parents refused starting specific immunotherapy with Hymenoptera venom after anaphylaxis. In 12 children (5%) the cause of immediate reaction was unknown. Other confirmed reasons for prescribing adrenaline autoinjector were rare (such as cold, inhalant allergens, latex). 30% of anaphylaxis was treated with adrenaline (autoinjector was used in eight children). 23% of children were not admitted to hospital after anaphylaxis. No child was admitted to intensive care unit.