The Global Allergy and Asthma Excellence Network led the creation of the new standards, which were recently published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. U.S. organizations involved in the effort included Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and Harvard Medical School in Boston.
Three takeaways:
1. The new definition of anaphylaxis emphasizes its potential to progress rapidly and cause death. It also details the affected organ systems and key signs of life-threatening reactions to improve recognition and response.
2. The report offers an educational resource for healthcare professionals on recognizing anaphylaxis, its causes, symptoms and the importance of timely epinephrine treatment.
3. The new standards also include a clinical support tool to help healthcare professionals diagnose and treat anaphylaxis, featuring updated criteria, epinephrine dosing guidelines and the first infant-specific findings to improve pediatric care.
“Our sprawling medical system, from first responders to hospital emergency staff, does not consistently follow guidelines for diagnosing and treating anaphylaxis. This is partly because no uniform guidelines are used internationally to define, recognize and treat anaphylaxis,” lead author Tim Dribin, MD, an emergency medicine expert at Cincinnati Children’s, said in a March 4 news release.
