Background: Immunotherapy is still underutilized as an etiologic treatment for house dust mite allergic patients. The reason behind it needs to be explored to improve its availability and effectiveness in treating allergic children. Objective: This study aims to determine the differences in non-clinical and clinical characteristics between pediatric dust allergy patients who received immunotherapy and those who did not receive immunotherapy. Method: This research is a cross-sectional analytical study that aims to compare specific variables that have been determined between HDM allergy patients who underwent immunotherapy and pediatric patients with HDM allergy who did not get immunotherapy. The study involved a total of 180 pediatrics patients with HDM allergies who visited the allergy outpatient clinic at the Department of Pediatrics, Dr. Soetomo General Hospital during the period of January 2018 to December 2021. Data for the study were collected from the existing medical records, followed by data processing and comparative analysis. Result: The total sample was collected as many as 180 pediatric dust allergy patients with 90 patients receiving immunotherapy and 90 patients not receiving immunotherapy. The data analysis using Chi-square test found a significant difference (p < 0.05) between the two groups regarding the clinical diagnosis of rhinitis, clinical diagnosis of sinusitis, skin prick test results for pet and food allergen, local side effects and systemic side effects. However, no significant differences (p > 0.05) were found in the non-clinical characteristics between two sample groups. Conclusion: There were significant differences in the clinical diagnosis of rhinitis, clinical diagnosis of sinusitis, skin prick test result, local side effects and systemic side effects among pediatric patients with HDM allergy who undergo immunotherapy compared to those who only received standard treatment.  

Characteristics

Children

Dust allergy

House dust mites

Immunotherapy

Non-immunotherapy

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