[Serious systemic adverse events associated with allergen-specific immunotherapy in children with asthma].
OBJECTIVE
To retrospectively assess serious systemic adverse effects of standardized dust-mite vaccine in children with asthma.


METHODS
Medical records of 704 children (5-17 years in age) with asthma between January, 2005 and December, 2011 were reviewed. Serious systemic adverse events following treatment with a standardized dust-mite vaccine in these children were analyzed.


RESULTS
A total of 336 systemic adverse reactions were observed in 17.0% (120/704) of the patients analyzed of these adverse reactions, 18 (5.4%) were serious (level 3), 318 (94.6%) were not serious (below level 3), and no single case of anaphylactic shock (level 4) was recorded. Systemic adverse events occurred most frequently in the 5 to 11-year age group and in the summer season (from June to August). In the 18 severe cases, the peak expiratory flow (PEF) dropped by 20% immediately after the vaccine injection, and other major clinical symptoms included cough, wheezing and urticaria. All children with serious systemic adverse effects were given inhaled hormone and atomized short-acting beta agonists, oral antihistamines, intravenous dexamethasone and/or intramuscular adrenaline. After these treatments, the clinical symptoms were significantly relieved.


CONCLUSIONS
The rate of serious systemic adverse events following allergen-specific immunotherapy is relatively low in children with allergic asthma. Conventional medications are effective in managing these immunotherapy-associated adverse events.
Department of Pediatrics, People's Hospital of Deyang City, Deyang, Sichuan 618000, China. huangying62@126.com.
Li
L
Dai
Ying
Y
Huang
Ying
Y
Wang
Huan-Li
HL
Han
Qu-Bei
QB
Li
Yong-Hui
YH
Jiang
D000293:Adolescent; D000818:Animals; D001249:Asthma / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003888:Desensitization, Immunologic / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010366:Peak Expiratory Flow Rate; D039981:Pyroglyphidae / Q000276:immunology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014612:Vaccines / Q000009:adverse effects*
D014612:Vaccines