Long-Term Clinical Efficacy of Grass-Pollen Immunotherapy

Despite advances in pharmacotherapy for grass-pollen allergy, there has been a marked increase in the prevalence of summer hay fever in countries with a Western lifestyle. 1 Although topical nasal corticosteroids and the new nonsedating antihistamines are highly effective in treating hay fever, 2 there remains a group of patients who have a poor response to these treatments and for whom immunotherapy is currently recommended. 3 An important question is whether allergen immunotherapy exerts a prolonged effect after it is discontinued. Such an effect would make this form of therapy attractive for prophylaxis and for early intervention. We previously demonstrated the usefulness of . . .