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The use of a grass-based allergy immunotherapy (AIT) lowered the risk of progression from milder to more severe asthma, according to the results of a large, real-world, industry-sponsored, observational study.
The researchers analyzed a cohort of 1,739,440 patients aged 12 years and older using 2005-2014 data from a statutory health insurance database in Germany. From this population, 39,167 individuals aged 14 years or older were classified as having incident asthma during the observation period and were included in the study.
The severity of asthma was classified according to the treatment steps recommended by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA).
Among these, 4,111 patients (10.5%) received AIT. AIT use was associated with a significantly decreased likelihood of asthma progression from GINA step 1 to step 3 (hazard ratio, 0.87; 95% confidence interval, 0.80‐0.95) and GINA step 3 to step 4 (HR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.60‐0.74).
Medications for GINA step 2 (3.5%) and GINA step 5 (0.03%) were rarely prescribed, so the researchers could not analyze the transition between GINA steps 1 and 2, step 2 and 3, and step 4 and 5.
A total of 8,726 patients had at least one transition between GINA steps 1, 3, or 4, and 1,085 had two transitions, though not all 39,167 patients were under risk of severity progression into all GINA steps, according to the authors.
The findings are consistent with earlier studies that indicate grass-based immunotherapy can effectively treat asthma symptoms and potentially asthma progression (J Allergy Clin Immuno. 2012;129[3];717-25; J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2018;141[2]:529‐38).
“This study indicates that AIT may modify the course of asthma. Our study supports the assumption that treatment with AIT may prevent the progression from mild to more severe asthma,” the authors concluded.
The study was financially supported by ALK‐Abelló; several of the authors were also employees of or received funding from the company.
SOURCE: Schmitt J et al. Allergy. 2019. doi: 10.1111/all.14020.
The use of a grass-based allergy immunotherapy (AIT) lowered the risk of progression from milder to more severe asthma, according to the results of a large, real-world, industry-sponsored, observational study.
The researchers analyzed a cohort of 1,739,440 patients aged 12 years and older using 2005-2014 data from a statutory health insurance database in Germany. From this population, 39,167 individuals aged 14 years or older were classified as having incident asthma during the observation period and were included in the study.
The severity of asthma was classified according to the treatment steps recommended by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA).
Among these, 4,111 patients (10.5%) received AIT. AIT use was associated with a significantly decreased likelihood of asthma progression from GINA step 1 to step 3 (hazard ratio, 0.87; 95% confidence interval, 0.80‐0.95) and GINA step 3 to step 4 (HR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.60‐0.74).
Medications for GINA step 2 (3.5%) and GINA step 5 (0.03%) were rarely prescribed, so the researchers could not analyze the transition between GINA steps 1 and 2, step 2 and 3, and step 4 and 5.
A total of 8,726 patients had at least one transition between GINA steps 1, 3, or 4, and 1,085 had two transitions, though not all 39,167 patients were under risk of severity progression into all GINA steps, according to the authors.
The findings are consistent with earlier studies that indicate grass-based immunotherapy can effectively treat asthma symptoms and potentially asthma progression (J Allergy Clin Immuno. 2012;129[3];717-25; J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2018;141[2]:529‐38).
“This study indicates that AIT may modify the course of asthma. Our study supports the assumption that treatment with AIT may prevent the progression from mild to more severe asthma,” the authors concluded.
The study was financially supported by ALK‐Abelló; several of the authors were also employees of or received funding from the company.
SOURCE: Schmitt J et al. Allergy. 2019. doi: 10.1111/all.14020.
The use of a grass-based allergy immunotherapy (AIT) lowered the risk of progression from milder to more severe asthma, according to the results of a large, real-world, industry-sponsored, observational study.
The researchers analyzed a cohort of 1,739,440 patients aged 12 years and older using 2005-2014 data from a statutory health insurance database in Germany. From this population, 39,167 individuals aged 14 years or older were classified as having incident asthma during the observation period and were included in the study.
The severity of asthma was classified according to the treatment steps recommended by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA).
Among these, 4,111 patients (10.5%) received AIT. AIT use was associated with a significantly decreased likelihood of asthma progression from GINA step 1 to step 3 (hazard ratio, 0.87; 95% confidence interval, 0.80‐0.95) and GINA step 3 to step 4 (HR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.60‐0.74).
Medications for GINA step 2 (3.5%) and GINA step 5 (0.03%) were rarely prescribed, so the researchers could not analyze the transition between GINA steps 1 and 2, step 2 and 3, and step 4 and 5.
A total of 8,726 patients had at least one transition between GINA steps 1, 3, or 4, and 1,085 had two transitions, though not all 39,167 patients were under risk of severity progression into all GINA steps, according to the authors.
The findings are consistent with earlier studies that indicate grass-based immunotherapy can effectively treat asthma symptoms and potentially asthma progression (J Allergy Clin Immuno. 2012;129[3];717-25; J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2018;141[2]:529‐38).
“This study indicates that AIT may modify the course of asthma. Our study supports the assumption that treatment with AIT may prevent the progression from mild to more severe asthma,” the authors concluded.
The study was financially supported by ALK‐Abelló; several of the authors were also employees of or received funding from the company.
SOURCE: Schmitt J et al. Allergy. 2019. doi: 10.1111/all.14020.
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