House dust mite subcutaneous immunotherapy has sustained long- term
effectiveness on allergic rhinitis and asthma: a 10-year follow-up.
Abstract
Background: Maintenance doses for AIT have been recommended for at least
3 years, little data on long-term efficacy is available depending on AIT
duration. To show sustained efficacy 10 years after completion of
treatment with depigmented-polymerized house dust mite (dpg-pol HDM)
allergen extract in adults with asthma and/or rhinoconjunctivitis.
Methods: Patients included in a double-blind placebo-controlled AIT
study with dpg-pol HDM allergen extract were reviewed at completion of
the perennial treatment and 10 years later (10y-FU). Change in symptom
and rescue medication score was the primary objective. Visual analogue
scale, asthma control test (ACT) and degree of disease control were
secondary objectives. A comparative analysis between patients who
underwent treatment for < 3 years and ≥ 3 years was performed.
Results: Data from 31 patients (mean age 38 years) were available at
10y-FU. All had asthma and 29 had rhinoconjunctivitis at baseline.
Twenty-three patients were treated ≥ 3y and 8 for < 3y.
Seventeen (55%) patients were asymptomatic at completion AIT
completion, with significant differences for nasal, conjunctival and
bronchial symptoms (p<0.0001) compared to baseline only in
patients treated ≥3y. Nine (52.9%) patients remained completely
asymptomatic at 10yFU , all were treated for ≥ 3 years. Moreover,
significant reduction in the number of patients with rhinitis
(p=0.0117), conjunctivitis (p<0.0001) and bronchial (p=0.0005)
symptoms was observed at 10y-FU compared to baseline only in the ≥3y
treated. Ten (32.3%) patients didn´t require any rescue medication at
10y-FU, all had been treated for ≥ 3y. ACT at 10y-FU showed a good
control of asthma (median 23.5; 95% IC[22.0, 25.0]). No significant
differences were observed between VAS at end of treatment compared to
VAS at 10y-FU. Conclusions: Sustained clinical efficacy is achieved 10
years after completion of depigmented-polymerized HDM, however these
findings were observed only if patients are treated for at least 3
years.