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Hospitalization rate doubled for children with food-induced anaphylaxis

The US hospitalization rate for food-induced anaphylaxis in children more than doubled from 2000 to 2009, with total costs significantly increasing, according to recent study results.

Researchers studied data from an all-payer pediatric inpatient care database, which included a random sample of 12,039,432 inpatient discharges from 27 to 44 states in 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2009. Patients younger than 18 years were included in the study “if one of the first three diagnosis categories included a relevant diagnosis code for [food-induced anaphylaxis],” including dermatitis due to food, anaphylactic shock due to adverse food reaction, adverse food reaction not elsewhere classified or other anaphylactic shock. Sensitivity analyses were conducted.

Age, sex, race, Hispanic ethnicity, US region and hospital location and teaching status determined food-induced anaphylaxis (FIA) visit rates, with total costs estimated.

The estimated total number of FIA hospitalizations doubled, from 1,085 (a rate of 0.6 FIA hospitalizations per 1,000 total hospitalizations) in 2000 to 2,253 (1.26 FIA hospitalizations per 1,000 total hospitalizations; P for trend ≤.001) in 2009. Overall hospitalization was stable during the time period (n=1,812,000 in 2000 vs. n=1,793,000 in 2009).

Patient age (8.6 years in 2000 vs. 8.3 years in 2009) and sex distribution (56% males in 2000 vs. 55% males in 2009) remained consistent. Significant increases in FIA hospitalizations occurred in all age groups except children aged 0 to 2 years.

Although the average length of hospital stay did not significantly change (2.3 days vs. 1.9 days), the total charges more than tripled during the 10-year period, with total costs calculated from 2003 to 2009 also significantly increasing.

“This trend highlights the need for further research on the inpatient management of FIA and how to prevent these hospitalizations,” the researchers concluded.

Disclosure: One of the researchers received consultancy fees from Dey/Mylan, Intelliject and Sanofi-Aventis; and has received or has grants pending from Inelliject and Sanofi-Aventis.