[CLINICAL EFFICACY OF SUBLINGUAL IMMUNOTHERAPY FOR JAPANESE CEDAR POLLINOSIS IN THE FIRST FOLLOW-UP YEAR].

UNLABELLED: The first drug of sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) for Japanese Cedar pollinosis (JCP) was purchased in 2014.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to clear the clinical efficacy of SLIT by comparing with other therapies, such as subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT), or other pharmacotherapy.

METHODS

We started SLIT at our clinic in October-December, 2014. We compared the clinical efficacy of 191 SLIT with 48 SCIT, 191 primary pharmacotherapy that started therapies before pollen dispersal, 141 pharmacotherapy that started therapies after pollen disposal, or 169 non-treatment in the first follow-up year. The clinical efficacy was evaluated with quality of life (QOL) scores by Japanese rhino-conjunctivitis QOL questionnaire (JRQLQ No1), symptoms of nose and eye by visual analog scale (VAS), symptom scores and combined symptom-medication scores (SMS).

RESULTS

Mild adverse events (AEs) were observed in many cases, but no patient was discontinued by AEs in SLIT patients. Five cases by unknown reasons and 3 cases by inevitable reasons were dropped out before pollen. Adherence of SLIT was 89±12%. SCIT was better than SLIT in most assessments, but not significant. Both SCIT and SLIT were significantly better than other pharmacotherapy. Patients, whose symptom scores of nose and eye were 0 or 1 point without any rescue drugs, accounted for 16.8% of total SLIT in the first follow-up year.

CONCLUSION

SCIT was slightly better than SLIT in reducing symptoms and SMS of JCP, and in improving QOL. However, the differences were not significant. SLIT was significantly effective than other pharmacotherapies.