2.1 | Setting, study population, inclusion and exclusion criteria
The cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Allergology and in the outpatient allergology clinic of the Military Institute of Medicine in Warsaw from December 2017 to April 2019.
All study participants had to be of legal age. The study group included patients who registered in the clinic due to an anaphylactic episode of varying severity after being stung by a honey bee or wasp. The episode had occurred at least 21 days before enrolment in the study. The control group consisted of healthy people with negative atopic history. The exclusion criteria for both groups were identified as below:
1. The level of tryptase in the peripheral blood serum over 20 ng/ml.
2. History of congenital dyslipidemia.
3. History of mast cell dysfunction.
4. Acute disease.