Comparison of the effect of 5-grass pollen sublingual immunotherapy tablets and drops in children with rhinoconjunctivitis.

BACKGROUND

One of the most important aspects of sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) is the regimen of administration.

AIM

To find any differences in symptom-medication scores between the two groups of SLIT tablets and drops, given pre-coseasonally (starting 8 weeks before the pollen season) in children with rhinoconjunctivitis allergy to grass pollen. The secondary outcome were the differences in lung function and induction of T-regulatory forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) positive cells.

METHODS

This was a retrospective, secondary analysis of pooled data obtained from our two prospective randomized placebo controlled trials that involved children who underwent SLIT. Forty-one children, ages 6-18 years, with allergic rhinitis (AR), sensitive to grass pollen, participated in the study.

RESULTS

Treatment with both tablets and drops significantly reduced all symptoms (nasal, asthma, and ocular) within the groups; there was no significant difference between both groups. When compared with the tablet therapy, there was a trend for drops therapy to be more effective in the reduction of combined symptom-medication score, but the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.1036); there was no significant difference in asthma and nasal scores. We showed a significant decrease in the fractional exhaled nitric oxide level comparable in both immunotherapy groups. There were no differences between the groups in the induction of CD4+ CD25+ FOXP3+-positive cells in peripheral blood.

CONCLUSIONS

Both protocols showed similar decreases in symptom-medication scores; however, when compared with tablet therapy, there was a trend for drops therapy to be more effective in the reduction of combined symptom-medication score.