268 Epidemiology of Anaphylaxis in Adults Treated in the Emergency Department, of the University Hospital of Monterrey n.l Mexico, During 2005–2010

BACKGROUND: The risk of anaphylaxis ranges from 0.2 to 0.7%. The objective of this study was to describe the causes, clinical features and complications of patients with anaphylaxis treated in the emergency department of our hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective, observational and descriptive survey was conducted for assessing adult patients with a diagnosis of anaphylaxis from March 2005 to 2010. Information was obtained from the medical records and from a questionnaire was that completed for the patients and a relative. The information included, triggers, demographics, allergy history and clinical characteristics of the current episode. All the cases were followed to their outcome. RESULTS: We documented 45 cases of anaphylaxis. 26 patients (58%) were male. The most common causes of anaphylaxis were: drug (49%) food (20%) and poison hymenoptera venom (16%). The most common clinical signs ando symptoms included: dyspnea (69%), nausea (58%) and hypotension (56%). 44% of patients came to emergency departments in the course of 30 minutes after onset of symptoms while the 29% took 30 minutes to 1 hour and 27% more than 1 hour. Among the associated diseases, hypertension was 13% and rhinitis (11%). In 85% of the cases, patients remained under observation for 3 to 12 hours were the most frequent discharged. 7 patients were hospitalized and 4 sent to intensive care later were discharged without complications. CONCLUSIONS: Anaphylaxis is not uncommon in our environment. Drugs are the most common cause as reported in the literature. The most frequent clinical manifestations are respiratory and gastrointestinal.