Abstract

SANTOS, Amélia Spínola et al. Intensity of pain associated with subcutaneous administration of allergen immunotherapy. Rev Port Imunoalergologia [online]. 2018, vol.26, n.1, pp.35-46. ISSN 0871-9721.

Background: Allergen immunotherapy is the only treatment that can safely and effectively change the natural history of allergic diseases. Regarding efficacy, recent meta-analyses favour the subcutaneous route when compared to sublingual. In the literature, there are few studies evaluating the perception of pain associated with the administration of subcutaneous immunotherapy with allergens. Objectives: To evaluate the intensity of pain associated with the subcutaneous injection of allergen immunotherapy in a group of patients with respiratory allergy treated with allergen subcutaneous immunotherapy. Possible correlations between the intensity of pain with demographic and clinical factors and/or manifested adverse reactions were also analysed. Methods: Anonymous questionnaire to all the patients that during the month of May 2017 came to our Hospital to receive subcutaneous injections of allergen immunotherapy. This questionnaire aimed to quantify the pain associated with the procedure, through a visual scale, and to identify any relation with demographic data, clinical data and with the occurrence of any adverse reactions. Results: Of the 210 patients included most were adults, females, with rhinitis /rhinosinusitis, receiving subcutaneous immunotherapy with mites. Doses varied between 0.1 and 0.5 mL. Fourteen local adverse reactions were recorded, most of them mild. 37% of patients did not mention any pain. Of the 132 patients that mentioned some pain, 110 indicated mild pain and only 2 rated pain as severe. Patients receiving divided injections in both arms showed higher median pain scores. No other significant differences were noted between different groups of patients, even considering patients with and without local reactions. Conclusions: In this study, subcutaneous allergen immunotherapy was shown to be only a mildly painful procedure, associated with only a few local reactions and therefore being a safe option for most of our allergic patients.

Keywords : Pain; pain scale; subcutaneous allergen immunotherapy.

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