Fabrizio Franceschini
UOC Pediatria, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria “Ospedali Riuniti”, Ancona, Italy
Paolo Bottau
Pediatric and Neonatology Unit, Imola Hospital, Imola (BO), Italy
Silvia Caimmi
Pediatric Clinic, Foundation IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
Fabio Cardinale
UOC di Pediatria, Azienda Ospedaliera-Universitaria “Consorziale-Policlinico”, Ospedale Pediatrico Giovanni XXIII, Bari, Italy
Giuseppe Crisafulli
UO Allergologia, Dipartimento di Pediatria, Università di Messina, Italy
Lucia Liotti
Department of Pediatrics, Senigallia Hospital, Senigallia, Italy
Francesca Saretta
Pediatric Department, AAS2 Bassa Friulana-Isontina, Palmanova-Latisana, Italy; Pediatric Allergy Unit, Department of Medicine, Udine, Italy
Roberto Bernardini
Pediatric Unit, “San Giuseppe” Hospital, Empoli, Italy
Francesca Mori
Allergy Unit, Department of Pediatric Medicine, Anna Meyer Children’s University Hospital, Florence, Italy
Carlo Caffarelli
Clinica Pediatrica, Dipartimento di Medicina e Chirurgia, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria, Università di Parma, Italy
Keywords
Drug allergy, prevention, beta lactam hypersensitivity, NSAIDs hypersensitivity, hypersensitivity reactions, children, skin test, specific IgE, drug provocation test
Abstract
Adverse drug reactions include drug hypersensitivity reactions (DHRs), which can be immunologically mediated or non-immunologically mediated. The high number of DHRs unconfirmed and/or self-reported is a frequent problem in daily clinical practice, with considerable impact on future prescription choices and patient health. It is important to distinguish between hypersensitivity and non-hypersensitivity reactions by adopting a structured diagnostic approach to confirm or discard the suspected drug, not only to avoid life-threatening reactions, but also to reduce the frequent over-diagnosis of DHRs.