PAT--the Preventive Allergy Treatment Study design and preliminary results

Abstract

The Preventive Allergy Treatment Study, the PAT Study, is a European multi-center study. The end-point is to show in what capacity allergen specific subcutaneous immunotherapy can reduce the outcome of asthma in children with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis sensitized to birch and/or timothy pollen. Two hundred and ten children aged from 5 to 13 years were included in the study. Children were randomized to the active treatment group receiving allergen specific immunotherapy with birch and/or timothy pollen allergen extract or to the control group receiving the optimal pharmacotherapy. Immunotherapy was given for the course of three years. Preliminary data show that immunotherapy has been effective, it has been safe and statistically significantly less children in the actively treated group had asthmatic symptoms than children in the control group. Data have not been evaluated from all centers at the moment. The study is a prospective follow-up study, the patients' data will be evaluated next time in the year 2002.