Skip to main content

Table 1 The new communication template on allergy and AIT

From: The effect of a new communication template on anticipated willingness to initiate or resume allergen immunotherapy: an internet-based patient survey

About respiratory allergies

• Respiratory allergy results from a disorder of the immune system

• Respiratory allergy is a chronic disease caused by both a genetic predisposition and environmental factors. In predisposed persons, exposure to several factors (such as pollution, smoking, and climate change) can cause or exacerbate allergy.

•Respiratory allergy is a progressive disease that gradually worsens over time, with an increased risk of polysensitization and asthma

• Respiratory allergy has severe consequences:

- Direct disease burden: symptoms impair everyday activities and degrade the quality of sleep, inducing fatigue and impacting learning and attention.

- Impact on work/school performances: among chronic diseases, allergic rhinitis has the highest impact on productivity.

About allergy immunotherapy

Main definition of AIT:

Allergy immunotherapy (AIT) is the only allergy treatment with a long-lasting effect on all symptoms.

AIT induces tolerance to allergens by rebalancing the immune system.

AIT is a targeted and efficient solution.

Key messages

• Which patients is AIT for?

- AIT is mainly dedicated to patients in whom symptomatic medications are insufficiently effective or poorly tolerated.

• How does it work?

- AIT is a targeted solution: After an accurate diagnosis, patients receive a tailored treatment.

- AIT is a disease-modifying allergy treatment that acts on the immune system itself by rebalancing it (in contrast to symptomatic drugs like antihistamines and corticoids, which only temporarily stop the symptoms of allergic reactions).

- There are several mode of administration: injections to be given monthly at the medical office or drops placed under the tongue, according to the preferences and needs of the patient. Tablets are available for grass pollen allergies.

• AIT is an efficient solution:

- Only one treatment active on all symptoms (in contrast to most of the antihistamines and corticoids that affect primarily nasal or eye symptoms).

- Efficacious over the long-term: Efficacy is sustained over successive years even after the treatment is stopped

- Reduces the use of symptomatic medication (antihistamines and/or corticoids).