Clinical efficacy of sublingual immunotherapy in pediatric patients with allergic rhinitis sensitized to house dust mites: Comparison to adult patients

Abstract

Conclusion: Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) with house dust mite (HDM) extracts in school-age children and adolescents seems to be as effective as in adults. SLIT could be recommended as a therapeutic modality in pediatric allergic rhinitis (AR) patients sensitized to HDMs. Objectives: To investigate the efficacy of HDM SLIT in pediatric patients with AR. Materials and Methods: Seventy-six patients treated with HDM SLIT for at least 1 year between November 2007 and February 2010 were enrolled in this study. A young age group (n = 54) between 6 and 18 years old was compared with an adult group (n = 22). Standardized extract of HDM (Pangramin® SLIT) was used. Total symptom scores (TSS) and anti-allergic medication scores (AMS) were evaluated before and 1 year after SLIT. Results: TSS improved in both groups, and the change was comparable in the 2 groups (ΔTSS, 5.1 vs 5.3; p = 0.538). Also among the young age group, ΔTSS did not significantly differ between school-age children and adolescents (5.2 vs 4.9, p = 0.429). Thirty-five out of 54 youngsters (64.8%) and 11 out of 22 adults (50.0%) showed improvement in TSS over 30%. AMS were significantly decreased in both groups. ΔAMS tended to be higher in the young age group, but the difference did not reach statistical significance (57.2 vs 35.7, p = 0.060).

Keywords::

• Immunotherapy
• sublingual administration
• rhinitis
• house dust mites
• child
• adolescent

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.