Comparison of Patient Satisfaction between Subcutaneous Immunotherapy and Sublingual Immunotherapy in Allergic Rhinitis / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Comparative clinical studies of sublingual and subcutaneous treatments have yielded heterogeneous results. In this study, we compared clinical outcomes in patients allergic to house dust mites (HDMs) that received at least 1 year of subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) or sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT). SUBJECTS AND METHOD: The present study included 120 patients with HDM allergic rhinitis, 54 patients in the SCIT group and 66 patients in the SLIT group. Each patient was asked to answer a set of questionnaire before starting immunotherapy. The questionnaires included the rhinoconjunctivitis quality of life questionnaire (RQLQ) and a patient satisfaction questionnaire. The patients were asked to answer the questions after undergoing at least 1 year of immunotherapy. RESULTS: RQLQ scores collected after immunotherapy in both SCIT and SLIT groups were decreased significantly. However, the SCIT group had a significantly higher decrease in RQLQ scores for non-nose/eye symptoms than the SLIT group (p-value=0.015). There were no differences in other satisfaction scores between the two groups. SCIT improved clinical symptoms faster than SLIT did within 6 months and 1 year (p-value=0.011, p-value=0.045 respectively). CONCLUSION: SCIT is more effective than SLIT in improving non-nose/eye symptoms in patients with allergic rhinitis. SCIT may relieve the symptoms faster than SLIT.