Efficacy of sublingual immunotherapy with dermatophagoides farinae drops in patients with allergic rhinitis

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of sublingual immunotherapy （SLIT） with dermatophagoides farianae drops in patients with allergic rhinitis （AR）. Methods Two hundred and six patients with AR aged from 4 to 60 years were included in this study. Among them, 123 patients completed more than one year treatment, the number of patients completed one year, one year and a half, two years were 61, 41, 21 cases. Rhinitis symptom scores and medication scores of the three groups before and after treatment were compared. And rhinitis symptom scores and medication scores of patients with one year drug withdrawal after one and two years treatment were aslo compared. Results After SLIT one year, one year and a half, two years treatment, the symptoms in these patients were significantly improved compared with before. The symptom scores （x±s） were reduced from 6.00 ±2.27, 7.39 ± 1.99 and 6.29 ±2.14 to 2.95 ± 1.82, 3.28± 2.58, 2.48 ± 1.99. The differences were statisticly significant （t value was 8.19, 10.29, and 5.97, all P 0.05）. The proportion of patients without drug treatment in the group which stopped medication one year after two year SLIT （76.2%） was higher than group stoped medication one year after one year SLIT （61.3%）. There was no statistical significance （X2 = 1.263, P > 0.05）. Conclusion The dust mite drops can relieve symptoms after one year treatment, but the proposed two years treatment is important for the consolidation of improved sympotoms, especially for the effect of reducing the use of symptomatic medication. Key words: Rhinitis, allergic, perennial; Allergens; Treatment outcome; Immunotherapy; Administration, sublingual