EFFICIENT IDENTIFICATION AND CLEARANCE OF LOW-RISK PENICILLIN ALLERGY PATIENTS

Introduction While penicillin allergy is commonly reported, proven penicillin allergy is rare. Clearance of penicillin allergy benefits patients and public health.  We sought to identify our population's penicillin allergy clearance rate and extend current data regarding safety of oral challenge to amoxicillin without prior penicillin skin testing. Methods Retrospective chart review was performed on patients referred for penicillin allergy evaluation from February 2016 to June 2018. Data collected included: basic demographics, answers to our standardized penicillin allergy screening questionnaire, form of testing (oral challenge with or without previous skin testing), and evaluation outcome. Clearance of penicillin allergy was defined as passing an oral challenge to 250mg of amoxicillin. Results From February 2016 to June 2018, a total of 478 patients were evaluated for penicillin allergy. Ages ranged from 1.4 to 94 years old. Fifty-nine patients were pediatric ( Conclusions Our study extends the spectrum of patients successfully cleared by a straight to oral challenge pathway.  Providers should be aware of the success of straight to oral challenge protocols in low risk patients. Further research is needed to best identify low risk patients.