Retrospective study on penicillin allergy delabeling and evaluation of an antibiotic allergy assessment tool

Background: It has been reported that 95 % of patients labeled as penicillin-allergic may be mislabeled. However, the process of delabeling has not advanced due to a shortage of allergy specialists capable of conducting accurate assessments. To address this issue, The Antibiotics Allergy Assessment Tool (AAAT) has been proposed as a tool to evaluate patients who can be delabeled by non-specialists. Objective: This study aims to identify patients who can be delabeled and to evaluate patients who are likely to be delabeled using AAAT. Methods: Patients admitted to the hospital between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2021, with documented penicillin allergy labels were included in the study. Patients who demonstrated tolerance to labeled antibiotics or were labeled without explicit allergy declarations were defined as delabeling. Subsequently, patients who did not meet the criteria for delabeling were evaluated for their potential to be delabeled using the AAAT, retrospectively. Results: 530 patients were selected, of which 62 (11.7 %) were delabeled. The AAAT evaluation of the remaining patients indicated that at least an additional 137 (25.8 %) patients could potentially be delabeled. Conclusion: The use of AAAT demonstrated the potential to delabel approximately third as many patients without the need for specialist evaluation. To promote broader delabeling efforts in the future, prospective studies should investigate the safety and effectiveness of evaluation tools such as the AAAT.