The accurate assessment and communication of the severity of acute allergic reactions is important to patients, clinicians, researchers, the food industry, public health and regulatory authorities. Severity has different meanings to different stakeholders with patients and clinicians rating the significance of particular symptoms very differently. Many severity scoring systems have been generated, most focusing on the severity of reactions following exposure to a limited group of allergens. They are heterogeneous in format, none has used an accepted developmental approach and none has been validated. Their wide range of outcome formats has led to difficulties with interpretation and application. Therefore there is a persisting need for an appropriately developed and validated severity scoring system for allergic reactions that works across the range of allergenic triggers and addresses the needs of different stakeholder groups. We propose a novel approach to develop and then validate a harmonized scoring system for acute allergic reactions, based on a data-driven method that is informed by clinical and patient experience and other stakeholders' perspectives. We envisage two formats: (i) a numerical score giving a continuum from mild to severe reactions that is clinically meaningful and is useful for allergy healthcare professionals and researchers; and (ii) a three grade based ordinal format that is simple enough to be used and understood by other professionals and patients. Testing of reliability and validity of the new approach in a range of settings and populations will allow eventual implementation of a standardized scoring system in clinical studies and routine practice. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
5
4%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences
4
3%
Other
12
10%
Unknown
49
40%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 62. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 30 January 2026.
All research outputs
#860,653
of 34,195,206 outputs
Outputs from Allergy
#271
of 7,605 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#14,145
of 373,157 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Allergy
#6
of 48 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,195,206 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 97th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 7,605 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 14.9. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 373,157 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 48 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 87% of its contemporaries.
