Safety, Outcomes, and Recommendations for Two-Step Outpatient Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug Challenges

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) outpatient challenge protocols are not standardized. They vary in clinical practice and can be time- and resource-intensive to perform.

To investigate the safety and outcomes of two-step outpatient NSAID challenges to evaluate patients with non-aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD)-related NSAID hypersensitivity.

We conducted a retrospective study of patients with a history of NSAID allergy who underwent outpatient NSAID challenges under allergist supervision. Individuals with AERD were excluded. Patient demographics, NSAID reaction history, and drug challenge details and outcomes were collected.

A total of 249 patients (mean age, 51.6 years; 63.5% female) underwent 262 NSAID challenges. Of these, 224 challenges were negative (85.5%). Thirty challenges resulted in an immediate reaction during the challenge procedure (11.5%) and eight resulted in delayed reactions (3.1%). Three individuals with immediate reactions required treatment with intramuscular epinephrine. Factors associated with a positive NSAID challenge included a prior reaction occurring within 5 years of drug challenge (odds ratio [OR] = 3.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.67-8.44), a prior immediate reaction within 3 hours of NSAID ingestion (OR = 2.45; 95% CI, 1.12-5.57), a history of cross-reactive NSAID hypersensitivity to multiple NSAIDs (OR = 2.97; 95% CI, 1.23-6.91), and the presence of comorbid chronic spontaneous urticaria (OR = 2.95; 95% CI, 1.35-6.41).

More than 85% of two-step non-AERD NSAID drug challenges were negative for an immediate or delayed reaction, which allowed patients to use at least one clinically indicated NSAID. Challenge reactions were generally mild. Two-step NSAID challenge protocols can be safely performed in the outpatient setting.