Comparison of Allergic Rhinitis Treatments on Utilities and Quality of Life: A MASK-air Study


Lourenço-Silva N., Sousa-Pinto B., Bognanni A., Pereira A. M., Coutinho-Almeida J., Amaral R., ...Daha Fazla

Clinical and Experimental Allergy, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus) identifier identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1111/cea.70335
  • Dergi Adı: Clinical and Experimental Allergy
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, BIOSIS, EMBASE, Environment Index, MEDLINE, Public Affairs Index
  • İstanbul Üniversitesi-Cerrahpaşa Adresli: Hayır

Özet

Background: Allergic rhinitis displays a relevant impact on quality of life. Medications used in the treatment of rhinitis have been assessed on their impact on rhinoconjunctivitis-related quality of life, but not on generic health-related quality of life metrics, such as utilities or EQ-5D visual analogue scale (VAS) levels. This study aimed to compare different medication classes and individual medications on utilities and EQ-5D VAS levels using data from a mobile app. Methods: We conducted an observational study using direct patient data from the MASK-air mobile application, collected between May 2015 and December 2024. We compared rhinitis medication classes and individual medications on health utilities (computed from the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire) and the EQ-5D VAS. To account for confounding, we employed inverse probability treatment weighting based on propensity scores, adjusting for demographics, baseline symptom control, and asthma status. Results: The study analysed 69,973 observations with EQ-5D VAS data and 842 observations with utility data. At the medication class level, fixed combinations of intranasal antihistamines and corticosteroids were associated with improvements in EQ-5D VAS (mean difference = 1.900; 95% CI = 1.316–2.484) and utilities (mean difference = 0.022; 95% CI = −0.015 to 0.059) compared with oral antihistamines (OAH). Intranasal antihistamines were associated with lower EQ-5D VAS and utility scores than other intranasal treatments. For individual medications, mometasone was associated with a lower EQ-5D VAS than budesonide and fluticasone furoate, while fexofenadine and levocetirizine tended to be associated with lower VAS values than other OAH. Conclusion: Fixed combinations of intranasal antihistamines and corticosteroids were associated with better quality-of-life than oral antihistamines and intranasal antihistamines. These findings could support future cost-effectiveness analyses.