Self-Management of Anaphylaxis Is Not Optimal

Area of Science:

• Allergy and Immunology
• Clinical Medicine
• Public Health

Background:

• Assessing patient adherence to anaphylaxis management recommendations.
• Focus on patients treated in an allergy outpatient clinic setting.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the level of adherence to anaphylaxis management guidelines.
• Evaluate prescription, purchase, and utilization of epinephrine auto-injectors and oral medications.
• Assess allergen avoidance practices among anaphylaxis patients.

Main Methods:

• Survey of 887 patients who experienced anaphylaxis, using a standardized definition.
• Analysis of epinephrine auto-injector and oral drug use.
• Evaluation of allergen avoidance behaviors.

Main Results:

• High reported allergen avoidance (88.3%) and advice received (94.53%).
• Low epinephrine auto-injector use (30.74%) compared to oral medication intake (54.26%).
• Prescription patterns varied by anaphylaxis subtype.

Conclusions:

• Despite recommendations, epinephrine auto-injector use for anaphylaxis recurrence is suboptimal.
• Oral medications are more frequently used than epinephrine auto-injectors.
• Enhanced strategies are crucial to improve adherence to epinephrine auto-injector therapy.