Long-term house dust immunotherapy improves pulmonary functions in children and adolescents with bronchial asthma

抄録

This study involved long-term analysis of children and adolescents with house dust mite sensitive allergic asthma to investigate the effect of immunotherapy (IT) with a house dust extract containing certain amounts of Dermatophagoides farinae (Der f1), and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Der p1, Der p2). The medication requirements, peak expiratory flow (PEF) circadian variations, forced expiratory flow between 25 and 75% of the vital capacity (FEF_25-75), maximal expiratory flow at 50 and 25% vital capacity (V₅₀ and V₂₅), and specific airway resistance (SRaw) were evaluated over a 3-year period in patients treated with IT. When compared with the results for control asthmatic patients who had not been treated with IT, statistically significant amelioration regarding the PEF circadian variations, %FEF_25-75, %V₅₀ and %V₂₅ was observed in IT-treated patients during the study. Although the improvement for medication requirement during the study was not different statistically between the two groups, we concluded that long-term house dust IT may result in amelioration of pulmonary functions, which may account for its clinical effectiveness in the treatment of asthmatic patients.