Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory disease involving the skin and frequently other organs and systems such as respiratory system. The recently recognized atopic nature of the skin
inflammation in AD has raised a growing interest in the treatment with
allergen-specific
immunotherapy (SIT). In this study, the efficacy of SIT was evaluated in a group of 37 AD patients aged 5-44 years: 14 allergic to house dust mites (HDM), 17 to grass pollen
allergens, and 6 allergic to grass and mugwort pollen
allergens.
IgE-mediated airborne
allergy was well documented in all cases. SIT was performed with
Novo Helisen Depot allergy vaccines of appropriate composition. Control group included 29 patients with AD and confirmed
IgE-mediated airborne
allergy to analogous
allergens: HDM, 14 patients; grass pollen
allergens, 11 patients; and grass and mugwort pollen
allergens, 4 patients. Conventional methods of AD treatment were used in the control group. Clinical evaluation of patients was performed with W-AZS index after 12, 24, 36 and 48 months of
therapy. SIT was found to be an efficacious and safe method of treatment for selected patients with AD and
IgE-mediated airborne
allergy. The efficacy of this therapeutic method was significantly higher than that recorded by conventional methods used in the control group in all 3 age subgroups and all 3 types of airborne
allergy (HDM, grass pollen, and grass and mugwort pollen). It is concluded that SIT may be highly promising method of controlling skin
inflammation in AD with the potential to prevent the development of AD into respiratory
allergy.