Subcutaneous Allergen Immunotherapy in Children: Real Life Compliance and Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Compliance
INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES OF ALLERGY AND IMMUNOLOGY, cilt.182, ss.631-636, 2021 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 182
- Basım Tarihi: 2021
- Doi Numarası: 10.1159/000514587
- Dergi Adı: INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES OF ALLERGY AND IMMUNOLOGY
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, BIOSIS, CAB Abstracts, EMBASE, Food Science & Technology Abstracts, MEDLINE, Veterinary Science Database
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.631-636
- Anahtar Kelimeler: Subcutaneous allergen immunotherapy, Children, Compliance, Coronavirus disease 2019, ASTHMA, DIAGNOSIS
- Açık Arşiv Koleksiyonu: AVESİS Açık Erişim Koleksiyonu
- Hacettepe Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Background: Subcutaneous allergen immunotherapy (SCIT) is an effective treatment for allergic rhinitis, asthma, and venom allergy. Compliance is essential for SCIT to obtain maximal benefit as it is a long-term treatment. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the level of real-life SCIT compliance in pediatric patients and the associated factors. Additional aims were to determine how SCIT compliance was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and why some patients dropped out SCIT. Method: Pediatric patients diagnosed with allergic rhinitis, allergic asthma, or venom allergy that received SCIT between September 2012 and July 2020 were analyzed. Results: The study included 201 children (66.7% male) with a median (interquartile range) age of 12.8 years (9.4-15.2) at the time of the first SCIT injection. The overall compliance rate before COVID-19 pandemic was 86.1%. Short SCIT follow-up time and venom anaphylaxis were found to be risk factors for drop out. The leading causes of drop outs were moving to another city/country (32.1%), symptom improvement (17.8%), treatment ineffectiveness (14.2%), and adverse reactions (14.2%). Among the 108 patients that were still receiving SCIT during the COVID-19 pandemic, 31 (28.7%) dropped out the therapy. The most frequent reasons for drop-out were fear of being infected with COVID-19 (35.4%) and thinking that the AIT practise stopped due to COVID-19 pandemic (29%). Male gender and older age were found to be the independent risk factors for drop-out of SCIT. Conclusions: Real life compliance in children was found 13.9% and it was higher than adults. Nearly one-third of children dropped out during the CO-VID-19 pandemic. Male gender and older age are associated with SCIT drop-out during the COVID-19 pandemic.