Skip Navigation


The European Journal of Public Health Advance Access originally published online on October 23, 2006
The European Journal of Public Health 2007 17(3):278-284; doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckl241
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
17/3/278    most recent
ckl241v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hommers, L.
Right arrow Articles by Langen, U.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hommers, L.
Right arrow Articles by Langen, U.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

Infectious and allergic diseases, cancer, and diabetes

Factors contributing to conductance and outcome of specific immunotherapy: Data from the German National Health Interview and Examination Survey 1998

Leif Hommers*, Ute Ellert*, Christa Scheidt-Nave* and Ute Langen*

* Department of Epidemiology, Health Monitoring Robert Koch-Institut, Berlin, Germany

Correspondence: Dr. Ute Langen, Department of Epidemiology, Health Monitoring, Robert Koch-Institut Seestraße 10 D-13353, Berlin, Germany, tel.: +493045473180, fax: +493045473211, e-mail: U.Langen{at}rki.de

Received February 2, 2006 , accepted September 14, 2006

Background: Allergies are an increasingly relevant public health problem. Specific immunotherapy (sIT) is presently the only causal treatment option. This study aimed to assess the frequency and determinants of sIT use and factors associated with treatment outcome. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis based on data from the German National Health Interview and Examination Survey 1998. Results: 2727 (39.2%) of study participants reported physician-diagnosed allergic disease. Among these, 16.5% (n = 296) stated to have undergone sIT. In this subset 43.4% (n = 129) reported improvement of symptoms, 21.9% (n = 65) had not changed, and 34.6% (n = 102) had discontinued treatment. The majority of patients treated with sIT showed multiple allergic symptoms and sensitisations. Factors significantly correlated with sIT treatment in multivariable analyses included rhinitis, asthma, several sensitisations, higher social status and residence in larger cities. Rhinitis and neurodermatitis were positively, and food allergy was negatively associated with the completion of sIT. No factors predicting improvement due to sIT could retrospectively be identified. Conclusion: Treatment with sIT under ‘real life’ conditions does not exactly follow current clinical guideline recommendations. In addition, patients may be selected for IT by socio-demographic factors. Whether this contributes to considerable discontinuation rates and limited effectiveness as observed here, needs further investigation.

Keywords: allergies, German National Health Interview and Examination Survey 1998, specific immunotherapy


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.