Patient population
Within the index period 181,496 patients received prescriptions within
the AIT group. 5,959 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Of these
44.8% received grass and 55.2% tree pollen allergoids. 504 of these
patients received the MCT®-associated allergoid, 3,329
patients allergoid 2 and 2,126 patients allergoid 3. The same number of
matched control patients were included for each group. For each study
product about half of the patients were classified at index as adults
(3,256 patients >18-65 years), followed by a high number of
children (1,958 patients 5-12 years) and adolescents (745 patients 13-18
years). Baseline characteristics are summarized in Table 1. AIT therapy
was mainly prescribed by Specialists (ENT specialist, dermatologist,
pulmonologist, 58.9%), followed by Paediatricians (26.5%) and
Generalists (14.5%). Only slightly more than half of the children and
adolescents received AIT therapy through Paediatricians (56.1%), 59.0%
of those treated with the MCT®-associated allergoid,
52.9% with allergoid 2 and 59.6% with allergoid 3. The second most
frequent prescribers of AIT therapy in this age group were Specialists.
Before initiation of an AIT therapy 26.6% of the patients already had
received asthma medication. The proportion of asthma was higher for
patients initiated on the MCT®-associated allergoid
(31.9%) than for patients initiated on allergoid 2 or 3 (25.5% and
27.1%, respectively). The percentage of juvenile asthma patients was
higher (30.6%) than in adults (23.3%, age >18 years).
This proportion was highest in children and adolescents treated with
MCT®-associated allergoid, at 36.8%. The percentage
of asthma patients was lower for allergoid 2 (29.2%) and allergoid 3
(30.8%).