Preference for sublingual immunotherapy with tablets in a Spanish population with allergic rhinitis

Abstract

Background: This study investigated patients' preference for allergy immunotherapy (AIT) administered as either sublingual immunotherapy-tablets versus monthly or weekly subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) from a Spanish patient perspective. Methods: A discrete choice experiment (DCE) consisting of two blocks with eight choice sets in each was constructed to elicit the preferences for AIT. Three attributes were included in the DCE for the mode of administration, including the frequency of administration, the risk of systemic reactions and the co-payment. Adults and caregivers of children with moderate to severe allergic rhinitis (AR) were included if they were not currently receiving or had not previously received AIT. Results: In total, 587 adults and 613 caregivers started the survey. Of those, 579 adults and 611 caregivers completed the survey and were included in the study. Both adults and caregivers had a significant preference for tablets compared with both monthly and weekly injections (p ≤ 0.0001). Furthermore, the respondents showed a significant preference for reducing the risk of systemic reactions. Subgroup analyses showed that caregivers of polyallergic children and female caregivers were significantly less price sensitive when choosing their preferred treatment. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that both adults with AR and caregivers of children with AR prefer daily SLIT-tablets to SCIT with either a weekly or monthly dose schedule.