[A preliminary study on the short-term effectiveness and safety of sublingual immunotherapy-spray for patients with respiratory allergy].

Abstract

To investigate the short-term effectiveness and safety of sublingual allergen immunotherapy with allergen sprays (SLIT-sprays) in Chinese patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) with or without asthma using real-world data. The retrospective cohort study included 100 patients who received SLIT-sprays in the ENT departments in Hainan Shulan (Boao) Hospital and Boao Super Hospital between October 2023 and August 2024. A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect clinical data on the effectiveness and safety of SLIT-sprays, examining the types and incidence of adverse events (AEs) during treatment, treatments after the occurrence of AEs, and changes in Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scores before and after SLIT-sprays. Self-reports from 100 patients were collected. The results showed that the average treatment duration for the 100 patients was (90.7±58.9) days, median 78.5 days. Using changes in VAS scores as the effectiveness assessment, the average VAS score increased by 4.2 (95%CI: 4.06-4.34). The incidence of AEs during the SLIT-sprays was 17.0% (17/100), all of which were mild to moderate local reactions, with no serious AEs reported. There were no significant differences in AE incidence among patients with different diseases (AR or AR with asthma and asthma alone) (χ²=1.831,P>0.05), different age group (χ²=1.477,P>0.05), different types of allergen extracts (χ²=1.613,P>0.05), or the number of allergen extracts used (patients using one or two allergen extracts) (Fisher's exact test,P>0.05). In conclusion, Chinese patients showed good safety and tolerability to SLIT-sprays, with all AEs being mild to moderate local reactions and no serious or systemic AEs occurring. Patients reported positive subjective evaluations of the early treatment effects.