<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><bold>Introduction.</bold> Allergic diseases belong to the most important health problems responsible for the incidence of various types of discomfort. The application of specific allergen therapy (SAI) is becoming a more and more frequent method aimed at treating allergic diseases. However, this approach requires a strict adherence to medical treatment, which may affect patients’ quality of life.<bold>Aim.</bold> Assessment of quality of life and everyday functioning in the group of patients who underwent a specific allergen therapy.<bold>Material and methods.</bold> The study group consisted of 80 adult patients who decided to undergo SAI treatment and were treated in two health care facilities in Małopolska region. The study included an assessment of life quality and selected aspects of functioning (as well as their retrospective assessment). As far as the applied methods are concerned, the study was based on the authors’ own questionnaire and an abbreviated version of the <italic>World Organization Quality of Life-BREF questionnaire</italic>.<bold>Results.</bold> SAI treatment made it possible to reduce both the incidence (Me=4.00 to 2.00; p&lt;0.001) and intensity (Me=4.00 to 2.00; p&lt;0.001) of allergic symptoms. Also the discomfort caused by the allergy was decreased (Me=4.00 to 2.00; p&lt;0.001). Moreover, some improvement in general well-being (Me=4.00 to 5.00; p&lt;0.001) and life satisfaction (Me=4.00 to 5.00; p&lt;0.001) was observed.<bold>Conclusions.</bold> Specific allergen immunotherapy seems to be worth considering as it improves patients’ life satisfaction and reduces discomfort caused by the allergy itself.</abstract>

Introduction. Allergic diseases belong to the most important health problems responsible for the incidence of various types of discomfort. The application of specific allergen therapy (SAI) is becoming a more and more frequent method aimed at treating allergic diseases. However, this approach requires a strict adherence to medical treatment, which may affect patients’ quality of life.Aim. Assessment of quality of life and everyday functioning in the group of patients who underwent a specific allergen therapy.Material and methods. The study group consisted of 80 adult patients who decided to undergo SAI treatment and were treated in two health care facilities in Małopolska region. The study included an assessment of life quality and selected aspects of functioning (as well as their retrospective assessment). As far as the applied methods are concerned, the study was based on the authors’ own questionnaire and an abbreviated version of the World Organization Quality of Life-BREF questionnaire.Results. SAI treatment made it possible to reduce both the incidence (Me=4.00 to 2.00; p<0.001) and intensity (Me=4.00 to 2.00; p<0.001) of allergic symptoms. Also the discomfort caused by the allergy was decreased (Me=4.00 to 2.00; p<0.001). Moreover, some improvement in general well-being (Me=4.00 to 5.00; p<0.001) and life satisfaction (Me=4.00 to 5.00; p<0.001) was observed.Conclusions. Specific allergen immunotherapy seems to be worth considering as it improves patients’ life satisfaction and reduces discomfort caused by the allergy itself.

Selected aspects of patients’ functioning before and after desensitization with specific allergen immunotherapy

Department of Internal Medicine and Community Nursing, Institute of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences

Jagiellonian University Medical College (JU MC)

Department of Clinical Nursing, Institute of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences

Pielegniarstwo  XXI wieku / Nursing in the 21st Century

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Introduction. Allergic diseases belong to the most important health problems responsible for the incidence of various types of discomfort. The application of...

Selected aspects of patients’ functioning before and after desensitization with specific allergen immunotherapy

Published Online: Jan 21, 2020

Page range: 202 - 206

Received: Sep 20, 2019

Accepted: Oct 28, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pielxxiw-2019-0033

Keywords
allergy, quality of life, specific allergen immunotherapy

© 2019 Ewa Kawalec-Kajstura et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Selected aspects of patients’ functioning before and after desensitization with specific allergen immunotherapy

Published Online: Jan 21, 2020

Page range: 202 - 206

Received: Sep 20, 2019

Accepted: Oct 28, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pielxxiw-2019-0033

Keywordsallergy, quality of life, specific allergen immunotherapy

© 2019 Ewa Kawalec-Kajstura et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
allergy, quality of life, specific allergen immunotherapy