Serious Drug Induced Hypersensitivity Reactions among Hospitalized Infants and Children

Abstract

There are very limited data concerning the epidemiology of drug hypersensitivity in Egypt. We therefore sought to investigate the magnitude of serious drug hypersensitivity reactions among hospitalized infants and children in a tertiary hospital over a period of one year. We conducted a cross-sectional study over a period of one year from the middle of October 2020 to the middle of October 2021. The study was carried out in Children’s Hospital, Ain Shams University. We screened for patients with serious drug hypersensitivity reactions among a total of 10440 hospital admissions over a period of 12 months. Positive cases were further assessed with complete clinical and laboratory assessment. Out of total admissions of 10440 patients over the study period, 35 (0.335%) patients had clinical manifestations of serious drug hypersensitivity reactions. Concerning those 35 patients, they were 21 (60%) males and 14 (40%) females with age ranging between 3 to 193 months with median (IQR) = 50 (24-96) months. Out of the 35 studied patients 4 (11.4%) had associated allergic disorders in the form of cow’s milk protein allergy in 2 (5.7%) patients, allergic rhinitis in 1 (2.9%) patient and urticaria in 1 (2.9%) patient.