Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of coseasonal initiation of Artemisia annua sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) for children and adult patients with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (ARC).
Methods: A total of 50 patients (aged 4-60 years) with ARC who visited hospital from July to September 2022 were enrolled and randomly divided into the SLIT (n = 25) and control group (n = 25). Patients in SLIT group received Artemisia annua SLIT and patients in control group only received symptomatic medication. The study continued for 1 year. Four nasal symptom scores, two eye symptom scores, and medication usage of the patients during 2021 (baseline) and 2023 pollen seasons were recorded, as well as adverse events (AEs) during the study.
Results: Finally, 20 patients of SLIT group and 22 patients of control group completed this study. Compared with the baseline, the levels of total rhinoconjunctivitis symptom score (TRSS), total medication score (TMS), and combined symptom and medication score for rhinoconjunctivitis (CSMS-RC) experienced significant reductions after 1 year SLIT. Additionally, these outcomes also decreased significantly in SLIT group when compared with the control group during 2023 pollen season. Especially, there were more patients showed symptoms reduction, medication use decrease, and efficacy improvement in the SLIT group. Notably, no severe AEs were observed throughout the treatment course among patients receiving SLIT.
Conclusions: Coseasonal initiating Artemisia annua SLIT demonstrated clinical efficacy and safety for children and adult patients with ARC.
Keywords: Artemisia annua; Allergic rhinoconjunctivitis; Coseasonal; Efficacy; Safety; Sublingual immunotherapy.
© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.