Clinical evaluation of long-term efficacy of house dust mite subcutaneous immunotherapy in children with allergic asthma.

Background: Allergen immunotherapy (AIT) is the only cause-specific treatment for allergic asthma (AA), and the efficacy of AIT has been widely recognized. Most previous studies have focused on evaluating the efficacy of AIT up to 10 years after treatment. Few studies have reported the long-term efficacy (more than 10 years after treatment) of subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) in children with AA who were sensitized to a single allergen or multiple allergens. The aim of this study was to investigate the long-term efficacy of house dust mite (HDM) SCIT in children with single and multiple allergies, and to provide reliable data on the long-term efficacy of SCIT in children with AA. Methods: Forty-six AA children (aged 5-14 years) who had completed 3 years of standardized HDM SCIT were assigned to a monosensitization group (n=22) or a polysensitization group (n=24). The asthma symptom score (ASS), rhinitis symptom score (RSS), total symptom score (TSS), visual analog scale (VAS), Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQLQ), Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ), and adverse reactions were evaluated before treatment, at the end of treatment and at 7, 10, and 15 years after SCIT. Results: Compared with baseline scores, the ASS, RSS, TSS, VAS, PAQLQ, and ACQ of all patients were significantly improved at the end of SCIT and at 7, 10, and 15 years after SCIT. Moreover, there was no significant difference between the monosensitization group and the polysensitization group. Conclusions: The significant clinical outcomes achieved by SCIT persisted for 15 years after treatment was completed.