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Anna Langenbruch,1 Eike Wüstenberg,2,3 Hendrik Wolf,2 Matthias Augustin1 1German Center for Health Services Research in Dermatology (CVderm), Institute for Health Services Research in Dermatology and Nursing (IVDP), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany; 2ALK-Abelló Arzneimittel GmbH, Hamburg, Germany; 3Clinic for Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Dresden, Dresden, GermanyCorrespondence: Anna Langenbruch, German Center for Health Services Research in Dermatology (CVderm) Institute for Health Services Research in Dermatology and Nursing (IVDP) University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Martinistraße 52, Hamburg, 20246, Germany, Tel +49 40 7410-53942, Fax +49 40 7410-55348, Email a.langenbruch@uke.dePurpose: Allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (ARC) is one of the most common diseases worldwide. Allergen immunotherapy (AIT) is the only causal treatment available so far. Due to health policy provisions, the assessment of treatment benefit from the patient’s perspective is of high relevance. To date, no instrument for assessing treatment needs and benefits of patients with ARC who receive AIT has been published. The aim of the study was to validate an instrument to assess the patient-relevant treatment benefit of patients with ARC who receive AIT.Methods: We developed the Patient Benefit Index questionnaire for AIT (PBI-AIT), consisting of 33 items. Longitudinal data of patients with ARC were used to test feasibility, reliability and validity. The PBI was compared between the beginning of the study (t1) and the end of the study (t5).Results: N = 279 patients with AIT completed the PBI-AIT at t1, n = 333 at t5; n = 226 at both timepoints. Mean number of missing values per patient was 0.7 in the Patient Needs Questionnaire (PNQ) at t1 and 1.2 in the Patient Benefit Questionnaire (PBQ) at t5. The internal consistencies measured by Cronbach’s alpha were 0.98 (PNQ) and 0.99 (PBQ). The mean PBI of the patients with AIT was significantly lower at t1 and improved at t5. The PBI-AIT correlated with all tested external criteria at t5. The correlation between PBI-AIT and satisfaction with previous treatment (r = − 0.57, p < 0.001) was higher than the correlation between PBI-AIT and current disease severity (r = − 0.26, p < 0.001).Conclusion: The results indicate feasibility, reliability, convergent and discriminant validity as well as sensitivity to change of the PBI-AIT.Keywords: allergy treatment, immunotherapy and tolerance induction, patient reported outcome, prevention, quality of life

We introduce a new optical method to noninvasively and continuously measure the swelling process of the nasal mucosa whereby we use light of different wavelengths in the red and near-infrared range which is transilluminated through the nasal tissue and whose extinction is recorded as a function of time. From the temporal and spectral extinction data, we are able to extract characteristic parameters that describe the swelling process quantitatively by means of a regression-type parameter estimation algorithm. The method has been applied to the nasal allergen provocation test and verified on a limited number of volunteers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a chronic inflammatory condition of the upper airways caused by a type I hypersensitivity reaction triggered by environmental allergens. AR is associated with significant morbidity and affects patients' quality of life, emotional well-being, productivity, and cognitive functioning. As AR prevalence and morbidity have increased significantly worldwide, similar observations have been noted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with AR becoming a potential public health issue. Management of AR in the UAE is mainly provided by non-allergy specialists relying on first-line treatments such as intranasal steroids and antihistamines, with often suboptimal and short-term efficacy. Allergen Immunotherapy (AIT) is the only currently available disease-modifying treatment option in the form of either subcutaneous or sublingual allergen immunotherapy that has been proven to have long-term benefits. This article aims to provide recommendations regarding the use of AIT for managing AR in the UAE, considering both the current landscape in the Emirati healthcare system and local experience., Competing Interests: Human subjects: Consent was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have received an honorarium from Biologix FZCO for the time invested in generating this manuscript, including making substantial contributions to data interpretation, reviewing the article critically for its scientific content, and revising and approving the final version independently. Financial relationships: Eike Wuestenberg declare(s) employment and stock/stock options from ALK. Tushar Arora declare(s) employment from Biologix FZCO. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work., (Copyright © 2024, Zaitoun et al.)