Classification of patients
Among the 507 patients screened (Figure 1 ), 92 were referred for
a suspected ACEi-AE, with a first visit between 2014 and 2019 and at
least one follow-up visit. Among them, 28 patients were excluded because
the diagnosis of ACEi-AE was immediately refuted (due to occurrence of
urticaria or AE attacks before ACEi introduction). This left 64 patients
with a possible ACEi-AE based on the data available at baseline visit.
These 64 patients were classified in 3 groups based on data collected
during a median follow-up of 26.5 (±35.5) months. A first group of 13
patients (20%) was considered to have “undetermined AE” because
follow-up did not allow to accurately discriminate between ACEi-AE and
histaminergic AE. A second group of 21 patients (33%) was classified as
having “probable histaminergic AE”: 6 due to occurrence of AE attacks
after the 6th month of ACEi cessation; 14 due to
re-exposure to ACEi with no recurrence of AE; and 16 due to episodes of
urticaria. A third group comprising the 30 remaining patients (47%) was
thus considered to have “probable ACEi-AE”.