SQ sublingual immunotherapy and quality of life – alk

SQ allergy immunotherapy administered as sublingual tablets significantly improves quality of life

The well-established clinical efficacy of SQ allergy immunotherapy (AIT) administered as sublingual tablets in grass, tree (birch family), and house dust mite (HDM) allergic adults is supported by significant improvements in quality of life

The proven efficacy of grass, tree and HDM SQ sublingual (SLIT)-tablets on the improvement of symptoms and in reducing the use of symptom-relieving medications translates into significant improvements in quality of life.

To assess whether treatment with SQ SLIT-tablets results in improved quality of life, the Rhinitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ) was applied across randomised controlled trials investigating the efficacy of SQ SLIT-tablets in grass, tree and HDM allergic patients. Across the pivotal allergic rhinitis studies in adults, significant improvements in overall quality of life were consistently found in patients treated with SQ SLIT-tablets versus patients treated with placebo. Importantly, all patients in the studies had free access to symptom-relieving medications like antihistamines and intranasal corticosteroids, resulting in higher use among patients treated with placebo. Despite a higher use of symptom-relieving medications in the placebo group, greater improvements in quality of life were demonstrated in patients treated with SQ SLIT-tablets. For SQ SLIT-tablets, the significant improvements in overall RQLQ scores included improvements across important domains such as sleep and symptoms.

 

For more details please click relevant product: SQ HDM SLIT-tablet  SQ grass SLIT-tablet  SQ tree SLIT-tablet

The RQLQ captures the impact of allergic rhinitis on patients’ quality of life across seven important domains including sleep and symptom burden

 

 

The RQLQ is a validated questionnaire specifically designed to evaluate the impact of allergic rhinitis on patient quality of life. Consequently, the RQLQ is extensively used in randomised clinical trials within respiratory allergy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patients are asked to recall their experiences during the previous week for 28 different items and to give their responses on a scale ranging from ‘no impairment’ to ‘maximum impairment’. The 28 items cover 7 different domains and overall quality of life is expressed as the mean of the 7 domains’ scores. The higher the score, the more severely a patient’s quality of life is impacted by allergic rhinitis.

 

 

To illustrate how specific items are captured for a specific domain, the sleep domain, and its constituent items are shown here.

For more about real world evidence and the impact of perineal allergy on sleep

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Durham et al. “SQ-standardized sublingual grass immunotherapy: Confirmation of disease modification 2 years after 3 years of treatment in a rondomized trial”, J Allery Clin Immunol. 2012; 129: 717-725. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2011.12.973

Biedermann et al. “The SQ tree SLIT-tablet is highly effective and well tolerated: Results from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III trail”, J Allery Clin Immunol. 2019; 143(3): 1058-1066. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2018.12.1001

Demoly et al, “Effective treatment of house dust mite-induced allergic rhinitis with 2 doses of the SQ HDM SLIT-tablet: Results from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III trial”, J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2016;137(2):444-451. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2015.06.036