title: Allergen immunotherapy in MASK‐air users in real‐life: Results of a Bayesian mixed‐effects model
Creators: name: Sousa‐Pinto, Bernardo
name: Azevedo, Luís Filipe
name: Sá‐Sousa, Ana
name: Vieira, Rafael José
name: Amaral, Rita
name: Klimek, Ludger
name: Czarlewski, Wienczyslawa
name: Anto, Josep M.
name: Bedbrook, Anna
name: Kvedariene, Violeta
name: Ventura, Maria Teresa
name: Ansotegui, Ignacio J.
name: Bergmann, Karl‐Christian
name: Brussino, Luisa
name: Canonica, G. Walter
name: Cardona, Victoria
name: Carreiro‐Martins, Pedro
name: Casale, Thomas
name: Cecchi, Lorenzo
name: Chivato, Tomás
name: Chu, Derek K.
name: Cingi, Cemal
name: Costa, Elisio M.
name: Cruz, Alvaro A.
name: De Feo, Giulia
name: Devillier, Philippe
name: Fokkens, Wytske J.
name: Gaga, Mina
name: Gemicioğlu, Bilun
name: Haahtela, Tari
name: Ivancevich, Juan Carlos
name: Ispayeva, Zhanat
name: Jutel, Marek
name: Kuna, Piotr
name: Kaidashev, Igor
name: Kraxner, Helga
name: Larenas‐Linnemann, Désirée E.
name: Laune, Daniel
name: Lipworth, Brian
name: Louis, Renaud
name: Makris, Michaël
name: Monti, Riccardo
name: Morais‐Almeida, Mario
name: Mösges, Ralph
name: Mullol, Joaquim
name: Odemyr, Mikaëla
name: Okamoto, Yoshitaka
name: Papadopoulos, Nikolaos G.
name: Patella, Vincenzo
name: Pham‐Thi, Nhân
name: Regateiro, Frederico S.
name: Reitsma, Sietze
name: Rouadi, Philip W.
name: Samolinski, Boleslaw
name: Sova, Milan
name: Todo‐Bom, Ana
name: Taborda‐Barata, Luis
name: Tomazic, Peter Valentin
name: Toppila‐Salmi, Sanna
name: Sastre, Joaquin
name: Tsiligianni, Ioanna
name: Valiulis, Arunas
name: Wallace, Dana
name: Waserman, Susan
name: Yorgancioglu, Arzu
name: Zidarn, Mihaela
name: Zuberbier, Torsten
name: Fonseca, João Almeida
name: Bousquet, Jean
name: Pfaar, Oliver
Publisher: name: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: allergic rhinitis
subject: immunotherapy
subject: mobile health
subject: patient-reported outcomes
subject: real-life data analysis
classificationCode: 610
subject: Medizin und Gesundheit

description: Background: Evidence regarding the effectiveness of allergen immunotherapy (AIT) on allergic rhinitis has been provided mostly by randomised controlled trials, with little data from real-life studies. Objective: To compare the reported control of allergic rhinitis symptoms in three groups of users of the MASK-air(R) app: those receiving sublingual AIT (SLIT), those receiving subcutaneous AIT (SCIT), and those receiving no AIT. Methods: We assessed the MASK-air(R) data of European users with self-reported grass pollen allergy, comparing the data reported by patients receiving SLIT, SCIT and no AIT. Outcome variables included the daily impact of allergy symptoms globally and on work (measured by visual analogue scales-VASs), and a combined symptom-medication score (CSMS). We applied Bayesian mixed-effects models, with clustering by patient, country and pollen season. Results: We analysed a total of 42,756 days from 1,093 grass allergy patients, including 18,479 days of users under AIT. Compared to no AIT, SCIT was associated with similar VAS levels and CSMS. Compared to no AIT, SLIT-tablet was associated with lower values of VAS global allergy symptoms (average difference = 7.5 units out of 100; 95% credible interval [95%CrI] = -12.1;-2.8), lower VAS Work (average difference = 5.0; 95%CrI = -8.5;-1.5), and a lower CSMS (average difference = 3.7; 95%CrI = -9.3;2.2). When compared to SCIT, SLIT-tablet was associated with lower VAS global allergy symptoms (average difference = 10.2; 95%CrI = -17.2;-2.8), lower VAS Work (average difference = 7.8; 95%CrI = -15.1;0.2), and a lower CSMS (average difference = 9.3; 95%CrI = -18.5;0.2). Conclusion: In patients with grass pollen allergy, SLIT-tablet, when compared to no AIT and to SCIT, is associated with lower reported symptom severity. Future longitudinal studies following internationally-harmonised standards for performing and reporting real-world data in AIT are needed to better understand its 'real-world' effectiveness.