Background and Objective: Specific allergen immunotherapy is the only treatment modality that might change the natural course of
allergic diseases in childhood. We sought to prospectively compare the long-term clinical and immunological effects of sublingual (SLIT)
and subcutaneous (SCIT) immunotherapy compared with pharmacotherapy alone.
Methods: In this single-center, prospective randomized controlled trial, 48 children with mild persistent asthma with/without rhinitis,
monosensitized to house dust mites (HDMs) were followed for 3 years. At baseline and years 1 and 3 of follow-up, patients were evaluated
and compared for total rhinitis (TRSS) and asthma (TASS) symptom scores, total symptom scores (TSS), total medication scores (TMS),
safety profiles, skin-nasal-bronchial reactivity, and immunological parameters.
Results: A significant reduction was observed in TASS for both HDM-SCIT and HDM-SLIT at year 3 of treatment compared with baseline and
controls (P