Variation in the Guidelines for the Acute Management of Anaphylaxis in Pediatric Patients

ObjectivesEvidence-based guidelines have been created and disseminated by multiple organizations to standardize the care of pediatric patients with anaphylaxis. Differences across these guidelines can cause confusion and potentially errors in clinical practice leading to patient harm. The aim of this study was to describe and identify patterns of variation in the current guidelines.MethodsA narrative review with 3 major components was designed. First, a narrative review of current, peer-reviewed, guidelines published by national and international allergy and immunology, pediatric, and emergency medicine organizations was performed. That was followed by a gray literature review of guidelines by resuscitation councils and national health organizations. The third component focused on the translation of these guidelines at local and institutional levels by reviewing clinical pathways published by academic institutions.ResultsWith regard to the fixed epinephrine autoinjector dosing, 50% (6 of 12) of the reviewed guidelines offered weight-based and 41.7% (5 of 12) age-based dosing recommendations. Furthermore, different weight cutoffs for the 0.15- and 0.3-mg autoinjectors were identified among guidelines. Variation was identified in the description of intramuscular epinephrine concentration ("1:1000," "1 mg/mL," or both), the recommended concentration for intravenous administration ("1:10,000" or "1:1000"), or the rate of infusion or titration. Eight of the 12 guidelines (66.7%) recommend a dose in milligrams, and 33.3% (4 of 12) in micrograms. Five of 12 (41.7%) used both milliliters and milligrams or micrograms.ConclusionsNotable variation in the current guidelines for the acute management of anaphylaxis in the pediatric population was identified. Flagging this variability could help inform a consensus-based approach toward harmonization of guidelines, which in turn could streamline the management of anaphylaxis in pediatric patients across the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, and hopefully prevent errors and mitigate patient harm.