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Home-based OIT safe, effective for children with egg allergy

Home-based oral immunotherapy with an intermittent loading protocol appeared safe and efficacious for children unlikely to outgrow an egg allergy, according to data.

Oral immunotherapy (OIT) is currently a controversial therapy for children in Japan, according to researchers. Therefore, they sought to evaluate its safety and efficacy of a newly developed slow-type, home-based OIT indicated for children with hen’s egg allergy.

The researchers reviewed data of 43 children with egg allergy (median age, 6 years; 30 boys) in a retrospective analysis, based on criteria previously specified within a previous study.

Patients who reached oral tolerance induction to 32 g egg after 1 year in the OIT group (9 of 30; 30%) demonstrated a significantly greater rate compared with the untreated group (zero of 13). The OIT group took maximum tolerated escalating doses of egg two to three times weekly at home under medical supervision.

“Some children who did not achieve the above mentioned remission stage by 1 year achieved one by 2 years, and the total rate within the OIT group was significantly increased to 17 of 30 (56.6%) by 2 years,” the researchers wrote. “The nine children who achieved oral tolerance induction by 1 year were among those 17 children.”

The researchers followed 14 of 17 children for more than 1 year, and reported that 11 patients (78.6%) reached clinical tolerance.

“Intermittent loading protocol is a novel approach that expands the possibility of an active treatment to improve the quality of life of patients and their families,” the researchers concluded.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.