PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
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
TI  - Autoimmune disorders in allergen immunotherapy, allergic rhinitis, and non-allergic patients
DP  - 2014 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - P3472
VI  - 44
IP  - Suppl 58
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P3472.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P3472.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2014 Sep 01; 44
AB  - 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.