Omalizumab in severe-allergic asthma: the impact on real life patients

Author: 
Luisa Ricciardi, Marta Liotta, Francesco Papia, Stefania Isola and Salvatore Saitta

Omalizumab has been reported to be a valid therapeutic intervention for the treatment of severe allergic asthma. The aim of this studywas to evaluatethe clinical efficacy of omalizumabandits impact on quality of life (QoL) andemotional sphere.
A retrospective studyon33 adults with severe allergic asthma treated with omalizumabfrom January 2016 to January 2018; patients were divided in group 1 and 2 with age>55 or<55 years, respectively. Exacerbations, FEV1 values,Asthma Control Test (ACT) and Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ)scores were evaluatedat T0 baseline, T1 1 year and T2 2 years. The Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 was used to investigate Alexithymia.
Omalizumab induceda significant decrease in exacerbations and increase in FEV1 ,ACT and AQLQ. Alexithymia,in six patients, did not interfere with omalizumab efficacy.From T1 to T2 improvement, even if present, was notsignificant but a reduction of exacerbations in both groups occurred and in group 1 AQLQ increase correlated to environmental stimuli.
Omalizumab was efficacious in different age groups with severe allergic asthma but also improvedtheir QoL. In our study these results were obtained regardless to the presence or not of alexithymia.

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DOI: 
http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijcar.2019.18863.3615
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