Abstract
In Ukraine, there are over 1.5 thousand types of weeds, which may provoke the development of allergic reactions. Based on our observation, most commonly sensitization to Artemisia and less often to Ambrosia is recorded in patients of Lviv region. The presence of clinical symptoms significantly deteriorates life quality of patients with pollen allergy and requires conduction of proper allergy immunotherapy. Aim. To analyze QOL of patients with allergy to weed pollen before and after conduction of sublingual immunotherapy based on a specialized questionnaire MiniRQLQ. Materials and methods. Totally, 485 individuals, 24.0 ± 4.5 years old were examined. Clinical diagnosis of AR was made according to ARIA criteria (2014). SPT to standard inhaled allergens (Diater-Laboratories, Spain), total serum and specific immunoglobulins IgE, IFA, type-specific components of allergens, immunofluorescent method immunoCAP (“Phadia AB”, Sweden) were determined. Analysis of life quality was performed based on questionnaire MiniMRQLQ. Results . Among patients of Lviv region with pollen allergy, the most commonly detected positive SPT were to Artemisia – in 62.3 %, less to Ambrosia – 13.9 % of individuals, combined sensitization – 23.8 % of patients. Among them, genuine allergy to Artemisia was confirmed in 88.1 %, to Ambrosia – 88.2 % of individuals, co-sensitization – in 21 patients. According to the results of molecular investigations, SLIT was performed for 69.6 % of patients (the 1 st group), 30.4 % of individuals were treated symptomatically (the 2 nd group). Based on questionnaire MiniRQLQ, it was revealed that QOL indices in patients with pollen allergy, who underwent SLIT, were reliably lower after the first and the second years of treatment compared to the indices before SLIT. Reliable changes were not detected in patients of the second group. Conclusions . Improvement of QOL indices after a course of SLIT indicated the high efficacy of this treatment method in patients with pollen allergy.
Highlights
Allergy to weed pollen is quite common worldwide including Ukraine
The results showed that patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) most often experienced symptoms, associated with rhinitis; Emotion-associated and Role limitation items were moderately revealed, while eye related, Physical functioning, Social functioning, Sleep-related & Other Symptoms items were in the low range [6]
In our examination of patients with allergy to weed pollen based on MiniRQLQ questionnaire, we observed positive changes of quality of life (QOL) indices, indicating the efficacy of sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) compared with symptomatic therapy
Summary
Allergy to weed pollen is quite common worldwide including Ukraine. It is known that over 1.5 thousand types of weed plants grow on the territory of our country, which may provoke the development of allergic reactions. The most common clinically significant weed allergens worldwide are present in the pollen of Artemisia, Ambrosia, orach, plantain, and saltwort [1]. The main clinical manifestations of allergy to weed pollen are allergic rhinitis/rhinosinusitis (AR), conjunctivitis and bronchial asthma (BA). Symptoms vary in patients, and in most cases, there are rhinorrhea, sneezing, itching, conjunctivitis, cough, breathlessness, etc [2]. This condition is considerably deteriorated due to a person’s quality of life (QOL) and often results in temporary disability
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