Study population
Two hundred and one children who had allergic rhinitis, allergic asthma or venom allergy and treated with SCIT at Hacettepe University Medical School Hospital, Department of Pediatric Allergy between 2012 September, 2020 July were included in the study. The study protocol was reviewed and approved by our University Institutional Review Board.
AIT was administered to patients with allergic rhinits and/or allergic asthma who had uncontrolled AR symptoms along with medical treatments and avoidance measures; AIT was given to patiens with asthma only if their disease is allergic and mild to moderate in severity; and venom immunotherapy (VIT) was administered to patients who had a history of at least one systemic reaction after Apis mellifera and/or Vespula stings and positive diagnostic test reactions (skin prick test(SPT) or specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE) for culprit insect venom.
Patients’ demographic data, diagnosis of allergic disease, AIT regimen, date of initiation of AIT, compliance and drop-out were noted from their medical records, retrospectively up to the COVID-19 pandemic period, afterwards it was reported prospectively. The treatment adherence of patients in COVID-19 period was defined as the time between the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Turkey (Mach 15, 2020) and June 15, 2020.