TY - JOUR T1 - Autoimmune disorders in allergen immunotherapy, allergic rhinitis, and non-allergic patients JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 44 IS - Suppl 58 SP - P3472 AU - Daina B. Esposito AU - Linda Nelsen AU - Jennifer C.L. Hawes AU - Crystal N. Holick AU - Jennifer Maloney AU - Vinay Mehta AU - Daniel Mines AU - Gillian Pianka AU - Stephan F. Lanes Y1 - 2014/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P3472.abstract N2 - Background: Allergic rhinitis (AR) is the most common allergic disease. Allergen immunotherapy (AI) is the only available treatment that modifies the allergic process instead of suppressing symptoms. Whether AI or AR patients have an increased incident rate (IR) of autoimmune disorders is unknown.Objectives: Compare IRs of autoimmune disorders in AI, AR, and non-AR patients.Methods: This retrospective cohort study included members of the HealthCore Integrated Research DatabaseSM age ≥5 years (01Jan2004-30Sep2011). Cohorts included patients with neither AR nor AI, specialist-diagnosed AR patients unexposed to AI, and AI patients with AR. We calculated IR ratios (IRRs) and their 95% confidence intervals.Results: The cohorts included 1,582,205 non-AR, 1,723,956 AR, and 109,157 AI patients.View this table:Age and gender-adjusted IRRs of select autoimmune disordersConclusions: Many autoimmune disorders are more commonly diagnosed in AR than non-AR patients. ER -