Allergy-like immediate reactions with herbal medicines in children: A retrospective study using data from VigiBase®.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The use of herbal medicines in children and the general population is continually on the rise with an overall herbal lifetime and current use ranging between 0.8%-85.5% and 2.2%-8.9%, respectively. Although acute hypersensitivity reactions are generally considered to be rare, little knowledge exists on the frequency and type of these reactions especially in specific populations like children.

OBJECTIVES:

To assess the patterns of acute hypersensitivity reactions to herbal medicines reported to the WHO global individual case safety report (ICSR) database VigiBase® in children.

STUDY DESIGN:

From the original VigiBase® extract for the time between 1968 and 2014, we included all reports with adverse drug reactions (ADR) associated with herbal medicines in children where WHO-ART reaction terms were indicative of acute hypersensitivity reactions.

RESULTS:

VigiBase® contained 2646 ICSRs with 14 860 distinct adverse reactions reported in association with herbal medicine in children. Among those, 79 cases with 107 allergy-like reactions met our inclusion criteria. The most commonly reported WHO-ART terms were urticaria or rash/rash erythematous (59.8%), and allergic reaction (8.4%). The most frequently reported suspected herbal medicines were mixed herbal products (51.4%), Hedera helix (15.0%), and Echinacea purpurea (5.6%). Most frequent routes of administration were oral (75.9%), topical (8.9%), and rectal (3.8%). Over 30% of cases were reported in the age group from 7 to 12 years. The majority of reports were received from Germany (29.1%), Thailand (21.5%), and Australia (11.4%).

CONCLUSION:

VigiBase® contains a considerable number of acute hypersensitivity reactions in children associated with herbal medicines, including life-threatening reactions such as anaphylactic shock.

• Authors: Ricarda Meincke, Jitka Pokladnikova, Julie Straznicka, Ronald H B Meyboom, David Niedrig, Stefan Russmann, Ludek Jahodar
• Journal: Pediatric allergy and immunology : official publication of the European Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology (Pediatr Allergy Immunol) Vol. 28 Issue 7 Pg. 668-674 (Nov 2017) ISSN: 1399-3038 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 28846157 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Multicenter Study)
• Copyright: © 2017 EAACI and John Wiley and Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

Topics

• Adolescent
• Child
• Child, Preschool
• Databases, Factual
• Drug Hypersensitivity (epidemiology)
• Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions (epidemiology)
• Female
• Herbal Medicine (statistics & numerical data)
• Humans
• Infant
• Male
• Retrospective Studies