Abstract
The clinical features of immediate-type-food allergy are not obvious from emergency visits. We investigated the cases of 55 pediatric patients with food-related allergic reactions who visited our pediatric emergency department from April 2005 to March 2007. Data were collected on the following: patient age, the ratio between pediatric emergency visits and transference by ambulance, symptoms, severity, causative foods, time of patient arrival at the hospital, duration of the symptoms, and the treatment. Age, symptoms, and causative foods were similar to those reported by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in 2002. These 55 patients corresponded to 0.44% of all pediatric emergency visits. Furthermore, 20.4% of these patients were transferred by ambulance, a figure that represents 0.76% of all patients transferred by ambulance. Most of the patients visited the emergency department after 18:00; this presumably reflects the onset of symptoms after eating supper. More than half of the patients visited the hospital within 90 minutes of the onset. Relatively so much severe case, 9.1% of those needed epinephrine administration, suggesting an unexpectedly high numbers of severe cases.
It is recognized that pediatric emergency aid is important in the medical care of pediatric food allergy. The pivotal role of emergency treatment in the medical treatment of childhood food allergy, and the cooperation between primary physicians and allergologists should be re-emphasized in light of the current reorganization of the pediatric emergency system in Japan.
