Health-Related Quality of Life During Routine Treatment with the SQ-Standardised Grass Allergy Immunotherapy Tablet: A Non-Interventional Observational Study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Allergy immunotherapy (AIT) with the SQ(®) grass sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT)-tablet has been shown to be efficacious, well-tolerated and to improve disease-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in controlled clinical trials. The aim of our study was to investigate HRQoL in patients with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis routinely treated with the SLIT-tablet and taking symptomatic medication as needed compared with patients treated only with symptomatic medication. METHODS: In a non-interventional, open-label study, patients treated with the SLIT-tablet were observed for about 12 months compared with patients only symptomatically treated. Patients assessed their HRQoL with the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) and the Rhinitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ) in the grass pollen seasons (GPS) at baseline (GPS1, HRQoL1), after GPS1 (HRQoL2) and in the following GPS (GPS2, HRQoL3). Tolerability, compliance, symptoms and medication use were assessed in the SLIT-tablet group by the physician. RESULTS: Overall, data were analysed in 576 patients. Mean differences (±SD) in overall scores for HRQoL3 versus HRQoL1 (186 patients) of SF-12 were +11.4 ± 16.8 (SLIT-tablet) and −3.4 ± 15.7 (symptomatic medication), (p < 0.0001), and of RQLQ −1.31 ± 1.07 and +0.10 ± 0.74 (p < 0.001), and for HRQoL3 versus HRQoL2 (238 patients) of SF-12 −1.6 ± 15.3 and −10.0 ± 14.1 (p = 0.0003), and of RQLQ +0.22 ± 1.29 and +1.24 ± 1.30 (p < 0.0001). Tolerability and adherence for the SLIT-tablet were comparable with data of other non-interventional studies. CONCLUSIONS: Routine treatment with the SQ(®) grass SLIT-tablet resulted in clear improvements in disease-specific and general quality of life, while no improvements were observed in patients treated only symptomatically.