Prehospital epinephrine may reduce biphasic reaction and decrease ED length of stay in pediatric anaphylaxis patients: Study

Results: A total of 1107 patient visits were included for analysis. The median patient age was 29 (IQR 14-50), 593 (53.6%) patients were female, 366 (33.1%) were under 18 years of age. Patients in the prehospital epinephrine group were also less likely to experience a biphasic reaction (5.4% vs 9.3%; OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.34–0.92) and had a decreased ED LOS (median 4.0 hours vs 4.7 hours). There was no difference in hospital admission between patients with and without prehospital epinephrine in both the univariable (19.5% vs 15.7%; OR 1.30, 95% CI: 0.94–1.79) and multivariable (aOR 1.08, 95% CI: 0.71-1.64) models. Prehospital epinephrine administration reduced the odds of a biphasic reaction and decreased ED LOS but did not reduce hospitalization in this cohort of ED anaphylaxis patients. Our findings suggest that timely administration of prehospital epinephrine is associated with improved patient outcomes.

Reference:

Andrea L. Hlady, Aliza F. Weinman, Yuedan Zhang, Aidan F. Mullan, Ronna L. Campbell, Outcomes Associated with Prehospital Epinephrine in Adult and Pediatric Anaphylaxis Patients. Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. 2024. ISSN 1081-1206, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anai.2024.08.006.