Allergen immunotherapy during the COVID-19 pandemic-A survey of the German Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Oliver Pfaar; Eckard Hamelmann; Ludger Klimek; Christian Taube; Christian Vogelberg; Martin Wagenmann; Thomas Werfel; Margitta Worm

doi:10.1002/clt2.12134

Allergen immunotherapy during the COVID-19 pandemic-A survey of the German Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Clin Transl Allergy. 2022 Mar;12(3):e12134. doi: 10.1002/clt2.12134.

Authors

Oliver Pfaar¹, Eckard Hamelmann², Ludger Klimek³, Christian Taube⁴, Christian Vogelberg⁵, Martin Wagenmann⁶, Thomas Werfel⁷, Margitta Worm⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Section of Rhinology and Allergy, University Hospital Marburg, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
² Department of Paediatrics, Children's Center Bethel, University Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany.
³ Center for Rhinology and Allergology, Wiesbaden, Germany.
⁴ Department of Pulmonary Medicine, University Medicine Essen - Ruhrlandklinik, Essen, Germany.
⁵ Department of Pediatric Pulmonology and Allergy, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technical University of Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
⁶ Department of Otorhinolaryngology (HNO-Klinik), Düsseldorf University Hospital (UKD), Düsseldorf, Germany.
⁷ Department of Dermatoloy and Allergy, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Germany.
⁸ Division of Allergology and Immunology, Department Dermatology, Venerology and Allergology, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Abstract

Background: When the coronavirus pandemic 2019 (COVID-19) emerged, concerns were also raised regarding the safety of allergen immunotherapy (AIT). The German Society for Allergology and Clinical Immunology (DGAKI) conducted a survey to collect real-world data on the daily routine of administering subcutaneous AIT (SCIT) and sublingual AIT (SLIT) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A web-based retrospective survey using the online platform survio with 26 standardized questions was used to survey physicians treating allergic patients during the pandemic.

Results: Three hundred and forty-five physicians who regularly offer and perform AIT in German-speaking countries responded to the questions. 70.4% of the respondents stated that they regularly initiated and dosed up SCIT for inhalant allergies (41.4% venom-SCIT, 73.6% SLIT), and 85.2% of the respondents stated that they continued SCIT for inhalant allergies during the maintenance phase in a regular way (59.1% venom-SCIT, 90.4% SLIT) in healthy patients without current symptoms indicating an infection with COVID-19. With regard to tolerability, there was no evidence for increased occurrence of adverse events in patients without current symptoms of COVID-19 infection during the pandemic.

Conclusions: This retrospective study demonstrated adherence to national and international position papers of AIT during the COVID-19 pandemic in German-speaking countries. Besides, the survey has confirmed a good tolerability of AIT for both SCIT and SLIT.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; allergen immunotherapy; pandemic; safety; survey.

Abstract

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