gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: To investigate the clinical efficacy of subcutaneous (SCIT) and sublingual (SLIT) immunotherapy with standardized house dust mite (HDM) extract for persistent allergic rhinitis (PER).

Methods: 98 patients with moderate/severe PER caused by HDM were enrolled in this study, who completed SCIT (Alutard SQ, ALK-Abelló, Denmark) or SLIT (Chanllergen-Df drops, Wolwo Pharma, China) regimen for 2 years. All subjects were divided into two groups: SCIT group (40 patients aged 7-57 years), and SLIT group (58 patients aged 6-50 years). Patients evaluated nasal symptoms (sneezing, rhinorrhea, nasal obstruction and nasal itching) using a 4-point scale as well as 10cm-visual analogue scale (VAS). Efficacy of SCIT and SLIT was assessed as the mean change from baseline in nasal symptom scores after 2-year course of immunotherapy, and their comparison was also conducted.

Results: Both SCIT and SLIT significantly reduced the individual symptom score of sneezing, rhinorrhea, nasal obstruction and nasal itching, and the total nasal symptom scores after 2-year treatment when compared with the baseline (all P<0.05). There was no significant difference in decreased mean score of the individual and total nasal symptoms (4-point scale) between SCIT and SLIT groups (all P>0.05). However, a significant reduction of VAS score of nasal obstruction was found in SCIT group after 2-year treatment, compared with SLIT group (P=0.032). There was no significant difference in decreased VAS score of three other nasal symptoms as well as global rhinitis severity between two groups (all P>0.05).

Conclusions: Both SCIT and SLIT demonstrated clinical improvement in moderate/severe PER patients sensitized to HDM after two years treatment.

Supported by: The Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD 2010-2013), and the Health Promotion Project (XK200719, RC2007065 and RC2011071) of Jiangsu Province, the People's Republic of China.