Ragweed tablets improve asthma symptoms in kids with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis: Study

USA: Ragweed sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) tablets leads to better asthma outcome scores in pediatric patients with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, finds a recent study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Treatment was well-tolerated in both the patients -- with and without asthma.

David Bernstein, Bernstein Allergy Group, Inc, Finneytown, Ohio, and colleagues evaluated the safety and efficacy of ragweed SLIT tablets in children with allergic rhinitis with or without conjunctivitis (AR/C) in this international, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Asthma outcomes were assessed as exploratory endpoints. 

The study included 1025 children (aged 5-17 years; 42.7% had a history of asthma) with ragweed AR/C with or without asthma (FEV1 ≥80% predicted, excluded if high-dose ICS required). They were randomized in a ratio of 1:1 to receive either daily ragweed SLITtablets (12 Amb a 1-Unit dose) or placebo for up to 28 weeks. 

Asthma outcomes consisted of the asthma daily symptom score (DSS). DSS was defined as the sum of cough, wheeze, chest tightness/ shortness of breath measured on a scale of 0-3 in the full analysis population (n5962) and the number of daily inhalations of as-needed short-acting beta-agonist (SABA) and number of weekly nocturnal awakenings due to asthma symptoms requiring SABA in subjects with asthma at baseline (n5406) during peak ragweed pollen season.