title: Incidence of carbapenem-associated allergic-type reactions among patients with versus patients without a reported penicillin allergy.
abstract: This retrospective analysis sought to determine the comparative incidence of cross-reactivity associated with carbapenem antibiotic treatment among patients with versus those without penicillin allergy. We sought to determine whether the incidence of cross-reactivity is different between imipenem-cilastatin and meropenem. A total of 211 patients were treated with a carbapenem antibiotic. Included were 100 patients with and 111 patients without a documented or reported penicillin allergy. Within each group, subgroups of penicillin-allergic and penicillin-nonallergic patients were balanced equally between imipenem-cilastatin and meropenem. The incidence of patients with a reported or documented penicillin allergy experiencing an allergic-type reaction to a carbapenem was 11%, which is 5.2 times greater than the risk in patients who were reportedly not allergic to penicillin (P=.024). No difference in the occurrence of allergic-type reactions was observed between the 2 carbapenems.
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan Health System, Department of Pharmacy Services, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0008, USA. wprescot@umich.edu
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Prescott
authors.forename: Daryl D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: DePestel
authors.forename: Jeffrey J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.forename: Randolph E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Regal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015780:Carbapenems / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004342:Drug Hypersensitivity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000209:etiology; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010406:Penicillins / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D015780:Carbapenems; D010406:Penicillins