Allergen-specific immunotherapy prevents adenoid hypertrophy recurrence in kids with allergic rhinitis: Study

A new study published in the Journal of Asthma and Allergy highlights the role of allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) in reducing adenoid hypertrophy (AH) recurrence in children with concurrent allergic rhinitis (AR). Adenoid hypertrophy and allergic rhinitis are common pediatric conditions known to impact the growth and overall well-being of the children. The study points out that children with both conditions often undergo higher rates of AH recurrence post-adenoidectomy, making effective management strategies essential.

This study was conducted on a group of 134 children aged between 5 and 12 years to investigate the efficacy of allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) in reducing the recurrence of AH after surgery. The participants were divided into two groups, where 62 children received subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) with a double-mite allergen preparation and other 72 children in the control group were treated symptomatically using medications without AIT.

To measure the recurrence of AH, this research evaluated the adenoid/nasopharyngeal (A/N) ratio one year after the adenoidectomy. Along with this, they assessed the severity of sleep disorders and AR symptoms using the Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Questionnaire (OSA-18), Paediatric Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (PRQLQ), and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS).

The findings suggest that the recurrence rate of AH was significantly lower in the SCIT group at just 4.84% when compared to 16.67% in the non-AIT group, with statistical significance (P=0.030). The post-treatment assessment scores for sleep disturbances and AR symptoms underlined the benefits of SCIT. Also, the children in the SCIT group showed notable improvements, reflected in considerably lower OSA-18, PRQLQ, and VAS scores when compared to the non-AIT group (P < 0.001) which indicated reduced severity of sleep-related issues and AR symptoms.

These results point to AIT, specifically SCIT with a double-mite allergen preparation, as a potentially effective strategy to prevent AH recurrence in children with AR who have undergone adenoidectomy. This form of immunotherapy not only helps in modifying the progression of allergic diseases but also seems to enhance the postoperative outcomes by significantly benefiting the quality of life of children. Overall, the findings of this research suggest that AIT should be considered a preferred post-operative therapy to manage AH recurrence in pediatric patients with concurrent AR.

Reference:

Hua, H., Deng, Y., Tang, Y., Wang, Y., & Tao, Z. (2024). Allergen Immunotherapy for a Year Can Effectively Reduce the Risk of Postoperative Recurrence of Adenoid Hypertrophy in Children with Concurrent Allergic Rhinitis (IMPROVEII). In Journal of Asthma and Allergy: Vol. Volume 17 (pp. 1115–1125). Informa UK Limited. https://doi.org/10.2147/jaa.s477376