Sublingual Immunotherapy Reduces Asthma Risk in Patients with Allergic Rhinitis

Grass pollen sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) tablets effectively reduced medication use and prolonged the time for asthma onset among real world patients with allergic rhinitis (AR), according to the findings of a recent study.

The retrospective analysis included data from 2851 patients with AR who received SLIT and 71,275 patients who did not receive allergy immunotherapy (AIT) enrolled in a German longitudinal prescription database. Changes in rescue symptomatic AR medication use after treatment cessation, medication use, and the time to asthma onset was compared between the 2 groups.
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After adjustments for covariates, patients who received SLIT tablets experienced an 18.8% decrease in AR medication use following treatment cessation compared with those in the non-AIT group. Asthma onset occurred less frequently among patients who received SLIT tablets compared with those who received AIT, and the time to asthma onset was significantly longer.

In addition, asthma medication use decreased by an additional 16.7% after SLIT cessation among patients who received AIT compared with those who did not receive AIT.

“Real-world treatment of AR patients with grass pollen SLIT tablets was associated with slower AR progression, less frequent asthma onset, and slower asthma progression,” the researchers concluded.

—Melissa Weiss

Reference:

Zielen S, Devillier P, Heinrich J, Richter H, Wahn U. Sublingual immunotherapy provides long-term relief in allergic rhinitis and reduces the risk of asthma: A retrospective, real-world database analysis [ published online August 10, 2017]. Allergy.  https://doi.org/10.1111/all.13213.