Three and a Half Years of Multi-Allergen Subcutaneous Immunotherapy Is Associated with a 50% Reduction in Asthma Symptom Scores

Rationale:

Allergen immunotherapy is effective in improving allergic asthma¹. Few studies assess efficacy of multi-allergen subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) in relation to asthma.  

Methods:

After institutional review board approval and informed consent, a real world, single center observational study from an academic center in Pennsylvania was conducted.  Sixty-three subjects with asthma and allergic rhinitis diagnosed by skin prick puncture, plus or minus intradermal testing or by immunocap testing were followed for up to 5 years.   Average subject age was 33.5 years with 67% female.  Immunotherapy treatments were conducted per immunotherapy practice parameters as published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology².   Subjects on average were treated with a combination of 15 allergens. 

Results:  

The average ACQ score for the group at initiation of immunotherapy was 1.02.  A 50 percent average reduction in ACQ scores was achieved by year 3.5.  

Conclusions:

Multi-allergen SCIT is effective in improving asthma symptoms.  A subset of subjects were non-responsive to therapy.  Further work is necessary to address non-responsiveness to allergen immunotherapy.