We thought that if we could turn off these smoldering allergic inflammations, we could make children much better. On average, each child received about 30 months' treatment during the trial. Based on these records, medications were adjusted every other week by the research physicians. When Dr. Adkinson's team analyzed the daily medication usage of each patient over the course of the trial, the results were surprising. Daily medication usage declined slightly in both groups, but neither the rate of decline nor the initial or final daily medication use differed between the placebo and treatment groups.
Kids tend to grow out of asthma, anyway.
Other studies have shown that up to 80 percent of childhood asthmatics become asymptomatic during puberty. Dr. Adkinson is careful to note that his study does not mean that immunotherapy is worthless. It is just not clinically indicated in this group of children. If you add immunotherapy to a good medical regimen, you can expect no additional value. For example, immunotherapy may alleviate nose and eye symptoms and fend off acute allergic stimulations from the environment.