Motosue MS, et al. - This study was designed to assess the changes in anaphylaxis-related health care utilization, including emergency department (ED) discharges, observation stays, inpatient admissions, intensive care unit admissions, and endotracheal intubations from 2005 to 2014. Findings reported an increase in anaphylaxis severity as suggested by increasing proportions of observation/inpatient admissions, intensive care unit admissions, and endotracheal intubations. Patients, practitioners, and the community must be well aware of these trends so that effective strategies may be created to prevent anaphylaxis and decrease associated adverse consequences.

Methods

• This observational study assessed outcomes of anaphylaxis-related ED visits between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2014.
• Researchers analyzed administrative claims data from OptumLabs Data Warehouse, which includes more than 100 million Medicare Advantage and privately insured enrollees in the United States.
• In addition, they studied trends in the proportions of ED-related anaphylaxis visits based on demographic characteristics, triggers, and ED disposition for the study population.

Results

• Findings demonstrated 37.6% (P = .02) increase in the proportion of patient observation/inpatient admissions, from 13.2% of anaphylaxis-related ED visits in 2005 to 18.2% in 2014, among 56,212 anaphylaxis-related ED visits during a 10-year period.
• Researchers found that the proportion of patients admitted to the intensive care unit increased by 27.4% (P = .001), from 4.5% in 2005 to 5.8% in 2014.
• Data also reported that proportions of endotracheal intubation increased by 145.2% (P < .001).