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Review: allergen specific immunotherapies reduce symptoms, medication requirements, and bronchial hyper-reactivity in asthma

GP/FP/Primary care IM/Internal medicine Allergy Respirology Immunology

Key Words: asthma • desensitisation (immunologic)

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

METHODS
Data sources: Medline (1966 to December 2001), the Cochrane Airways Group trials register (up to June 2001), EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, CINAHL, Current Contents, abstracts of dissertations, and reference lists.

Study selection and assessment: studies in any language were selected if they were randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing AS immunotherapy with placebo, antigenically inactive controls, untreated controls, or inhaled steroids; or comparing house dust extract with placebo. Studies were assessed for methodological quality using the Jadad scale.

Outcomes: asthma symptoms, medication requirements, lung function (including peak expiratory flow rate, FEV₁, and thoracic gas volume), non-specific BHR (to histamine or methacholine), and AS BHR.

MAIN RESULTS
75 RCTs met the selection criteria (n = 3506). Patients who received AS immunotherapy (particularly mite, pollen, and animal dander allergens) had greater symptomatic improvement, had reduced asthma medication requirements, and were less likely to develop increased non-specific or AS BHR than those who received placebo (table. . . [Full text of this article]

Bernard R Adelsberg, MD

Hamden Internal Medicine Associates
Hamden, Connecticut, USA