Suspected Reaction with Cephalosporin May Be a Predictive Factor for β-Lactam Allergy in Children

Most children diagnosed with β-lactam allergy based only on history are not truly allergic, and mislabeling leads to use of less effective and more costly alternative broader-spectrum antibiotics, significantly increasing drug resistance.

To determine the frequency and risk factors of confirmed allergy in patients with β-lactam allergy reported by parents or their doctors and evaluate cross-reactivity between β-lactams in children with confirmed allergy.

Sixty-seven children with suspected β-lactam allergy were evaluated via history, sIgE measurements, skin tests, and drug provocation tests over a period of 5 years.

β-Lactam allergy was confirmed in 10 (14.9%) patients. Six patients had a positive intradermal test result to one or more of the penicillin skin test materials or ceftriaxone, 4 patients with negative skin test results had positive test results with suspected drugs. Age, gender, time interval between evaluation and the initial reaction, personal history of atopy, parental history of drug allergy, reaction type, and multiple drug allergy history were not significantly different between allergic and tolerant patients. For culprit drugs, there was a significant different between the 2 groups; the rate of confirmed diagnosis was significantly higher for cephalosporins such as ceftriaxone, cefuroxime, and cefprozil (p = 0.03). Three patients with allergy to penicillin tolerated cefuroxime; in 4 patients with selective allergy to ceftriaxone tolerated cephalosporins with a dissimilar side chain (cefadroxil, cefuroxime, cefaclor, and cefdinir).

Our study indicates that most patients with a suspected β-lactam allergy tolerated this drug. An appropriate diagnostic allergy workup may prevent the use of less effective and more expensive alternatives.