Clinical efficacy in patients with delayed SCIT compared to
on-schedule SCIT
For subjective symptoms, the mean ± SD value of VAS was 2.67 ± 2.10 at
V0 and 2.271 ± 1.53 at V1 for patients with delayed SCIT, whereas
patients with scheduled SCIT had a higher score of 3.08 ± 2.13 at V0 (P
= 0.0191) and 2.30 ± 1.82 at V1 (Figure 2, A ). The number of
patients with delayed SCIT who did not feel any symptoms was 14.79%,
and patients who reported moderate symptoms was 21.01%. This was more
than 4.27% (P = 0.0001), and less than 30.33% (P = 0.0136) than in
patients with scheduled SCIT at V0. Severe symptoms were reported in
0.47% of patients with delayed SCIT, which was less than 3.84% than in
patients with scheduled SCIT (P = 0.0424) (Table 2 ).
With a similar tendency as VAS, the mean ± SD value of dSS was 0.63 ±
0.50 in patients with delayed SCIT, which was also lower than the
scheduled SCIT group at V0 (0.76 ± 0.60, P = 0.0208). However, the score
of 0.60 ± 0.43 in patients with delayed SCIT was significantly higher
than the score of 0.51 ± 0.47 for scheduled SCIT patients at V1 (P =
0.0375) (Figure 2, B ). The conjunctival symptom of watery eyes
at V0, and nasal symptoms of itchy nose and of sneezing at V1, showed a
significant difference between the delayed and scheduled SCIT groups (P
= 0.0267, P = 0.0001, and P = 0.0267 respectively) (Table 2 ).
For rescue medication, medication usage among patients was significantly
increased in the delayed SCIT group compared to the scheduled SCIT group
(P = 0.0478) at V0 (Figure 2, C ), particularly the usage of
intranasal corticosteroids (INS) (P = 0.0177). For allergic control,
intake of INS with or without H1-antihistamine was increased up to
nearly 50% at V0 in the delayed SCIT group. However, no major
difference of dMS was observed between the groups at V1 (Table
2 ). Moreover, the score of CSMS, which balances both symptoms and the
need for anti-allergic medication in an equally weighted manner, shows
no statistical difference in patients with delayed or scheduled SCIT at
V0 and V1 (Figure 2, D ).
For QoL assessment, the mean value with upper to lower 95% CI of QoL
grade was 20.89 (18.73 to 23.05) and 26.97 (24.17 to 29.76) in patients
with delayed and scheduled SCIT at V0, respectively (P <
0.0001), showing less life damage among delayed SCIT patients. The
remarkable difference in the grade of 20.71 (18.15 to 23.27) in patients
with delayed SCIT in comparison to 17.85 (13.96 to 21.74) in patients
with scheduled SCIT was seen at V1 (P = 0.0334) (Figure 2, E ).
The number of patients with activity problems (P < 0.0001) and
generalized symptoms (P = 0.0093) during the past week at V0 were found
to be prominently reduced in the delayed SCIT group, while at V1, sleep
problems, generalized symptoms, practical problems, nasal symptoms,
ocular symptoms, and emotional problems were prominently increased in
comparison with the scheduled SCIT group (all P < 0.05)
(Table 2 ).