Abstract
The link between increasingly severe asthma and increased hospitalisation risk is well established. We retrospectively reviewed medical records 12 months pre- and post-omalizumab initiation in patients (≥12 years) with severe persistent allergic asthma who were (n=81) or were not (n=55) hospitalised for asthma in the year before omalizumab initiation. Baseline characteristics in hospitalised and non-hospitalised patients were similar: mean age 39.7 and 43.6 years; 27.2% and 38.2% male; mean IgE 278 and 309 IU/mL, respectively. Post-omalizumab initiation there were significant improvements in oral corticosteroid (OCS) burden (primary endpoint), % patients stopping OCS, exacerbation rates and Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) scores.
Overall, similar benefits were seen regardless of hospitalisation in the previous year. This suggests that prior hospitalisation is not a good predictive discriminator of response to omalizumab in patients with severe allergic asthma.
- © 2012 ERS