Abstract

Aim: Consultation among physicians remains an essential component of accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment of a patient having diagnostic problems.

Methods: A retrospective review of hospital records was conducted in a total of 1019 patients consulted at pediatric allergy clinic between September 1, 2008 and August 31, 2009.

Results: A total of 1019 allergy consults whose ages ranged from 3 months to 18 years old were reviewed. Among these consultations; 635 (62.3%) were boys. Consultations were requested by clinics of pediatrics (71.8%), subbranch clinics (15%), dermatology (6.4%), emergency service (3.8%), and surgery (3%). The most common reasons for consultation included chronic cough (22.3%), asthma (17.6%), wheezing (11.3%), urticaria/angioedema (10%), atopic eczema (8.6%), allergic rhinitis (6.9%), and eruption/itching (6.5%). The diagnosis of allergic disorders in our clinic were asthma (31.8%), rhinitis (15.4%), wheezy infant (12%), urticaria/angioedema (11.7%), atopic eczema (9.9%), and adverse drug reaction (4.3%). Elapsed time between patient’s first referral to our hospital and his/her consultation was ranged from 2 minutes to 15 days, with a mean duration of 4 hours. Response time to consultations differed from 1 minute to 2 days (mean duration: 55 minutes).

Conclusions: Consultation is crucial in preventing misdiagnosis, improving the accuracy of diagnosis, and the appropriate management of diseases. Therefore, we hope the information about pediatric experience given in this study could be valuable and very useful for both the allergists as consultant and other counseling physicians

Keywords: Child, pediatric, allergy, consultation

References

  1. Dietrich JJ, Quinn JM, England RW. Reasons for outpatient consulta- tion in allergy/immunology. Allergy Asthma Proc 2009;30(1):69-74.
  2. Quinn JM. Pediatric inpatient consultation of allergy/immunology. Pediatric inpatient consultation of allergy/immunology. Pediatr Asthma Allergy Immunol 2000;14(4):293-9.
  3. England RW, Ho TC, Napoli DC, Quinn JM. Inpatient consulta- tion of allergy/immunology in a tertiary care setting. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2003;90(4):393-7.
  4. Robinson PD. Van Asperen P. Asthma in childhood. Pediatr Clin North Am 2009;56(1):191-226.
  5. Meltzer EO, Blaiss MS, Derebery MJ, Mahr TA, Gordon BR, Sheth KK, et al. Burden of allergic rhinitis: results from the Pediatric Allergies in America Survey. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2009;124(3 Suppl):43-70.
  6. Yorgancioglu A, Kalayci O, Kalyoncu AF, Khaltaev N, Bousquet J. Allergic rhinitis and its impact on asthma update (ARIA 2008) [The Turkish perspective]. Tuberk Toraks 2008; 56(2):224-31.
  7. Bieber T. Atopic dermatitis. N Engl J Med 2008;358(14):1483-94.
  8. Ker J, Hartert TV. The atopic march: what’s the evidence? Ann Al- lergy Asthma Immunol 2009;103(4):282-9.
  9. Sampson HA and Burks AW. Adverse reactions to foods. In: Ad- kinson Jr NF, Bochner BS, Busse WW, Holgate St, Lemanske Jr RF, and Simons FER eds. Middleton’s Allergy Principles & Prac- tice. 7th ed. USA: Elsevier Inc 2009:1139-67.
  10. Orhan F, Karakas T, Cakir M, Aksoy A, Baki A, Gedik Y. Preva- lence of immunoglobulin E-mediated food allergy in 6-9-year-old urban schoolchildren in the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey. Clin Exp Allergy 2009;39(7):1027-35.

Copyright and license

How to cite

1.
Özmen S, Mısırlıoğlu ED, Giniş T, Yıldırım M, Doğru M, Duman H, et al. CONSULTATIONS IN PEDIATRIC ALLERGY. Turk J Pediatr Dis [Internet]. 2011 Apr. 1 [cited 2025 May 25];5(4):202-7. Available from: https://turkjpediatrdis.org/article/view/157