β-blockers and ACE inhibitors are not a risk factor for severe systemic
sting reactions and adverse events during venom immunotherapy
Abstract
Background: There is controversy whether taking β-blockers or ACE
inhibitors (ACEI) is a risk factor for more severe systemic insect sting
reactions (SSR) and whether it increases the number or severity of
adverse events (AE) during venom immunotherapy (VIT). Methods: In this
open, prospective, observational, multicenter trial, we recruited
patients with a history of a SSR and indication for VIT. The primary
objective of this study was to evaluate whether patients taking
β-blockers or ACEI show more systemic AE during VIT compared to patients
without such treatment. Results: In total, 1,425 patients were enrolled
and VIT was performed in 1,342 patients. Of all patients included, 388
(27.2%) took antihypertensive (AHT) drugs (10.4% took β-blockers,
11.9% ACEI, 5.0% β-blockers and ACEI). Only 5.6% of patients under
AHT treatment experienced systemic AE during VIT as compared with 7.4%
of patients without these drugs (OR: 0.74, 95% CI: 0.43–1.22, p=0.25).
The severity of the initial sting reaction was not affected by the
intake of β-blockers or ACEI (OR: 1.14, 95% CI: 0.89–1.46, p=0.29). In
total, 210 (17.7%) patients were re-stung during VIT and 191 (91.0%)
tolerated the sting without systemic symptoms. Of the 19 patients with
VIT treatment failure, 4 took β-blockers, none an ACEI. Conclusions:
This trial provides robust evidence that taking β-blockers or ACEI does
neither increase the frequency of systemic AE during VIT nor aggravate
SSR. Moreover, results suggest that these drugs do not impair
effectiveness of VIT. (Funded by Medical University of Graz, Austria;
Clinicaltrials.gov number, NCT04269629)