Position article and guidelines
EAACI: A European Declaration on Immunotherapy. Designing the future of allergen specific immunotherapy
1 Section of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Imperial College, National Heart and Lung Institute, Dovehouse Street, London, SW3 6LY, UK
2 Department and INSERM U657, Hôpital Arnaud de Villeneuve, University Hospital of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
3 Department of Allergology, Erasmus MC-University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
4 Allergy Department and INSERM U657, Hôpital Arnaud de Villeneuve, University Hospital of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
5 The University of Edinburgh, Centre for Population Health Sciences, Edinburgh, UK
6 Department of Respiratory Medicine, Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, UK
7 The Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital, London, UK
8 Upper Airway Research Laboratory (URL), Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium
9 Allergy Clinic, National University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
10 Division of Immunopathology, Department of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research, Centre for Pathophysiology, Infectiology & Immunology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
11 Department of Internal Medicine, Immunology, Allergy & Respiratory Diseases, University Hospital, Ospedali Riuniti di Ancona, Ancona, Italy
12 Pediatric Allergy and Pneumology Unit, Children's Hospital La Fe, Valencia, Spain
13 Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF), University of Zurich, Davos, Switzerland
14 Centre de l'Asthme et des Allergies, Hôpital d'enfant Armand Trousseau, Paris, France
15 Department of Allergy, Hospital Clinico Universitario, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
16 Department of Paediatrics, Respiratory and Allergic Disease Division, Medical University Graz, Graz, Austria
17 Allergy Division, Ramon & Cajal University Hospital, Alcala de Henares University, Madrid, Spain
18 Department of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research, Christian Doppler Laboratory for Immunomodulation, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
19 Department of Experimental Pneumology, Ruhr-University, Bochum, Germany
20 Allergy and Respiratory Diseases Clinic, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
21 Allergy Section, Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain
22 Department of Respiratory Diseases, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, C, 8000, Denmark
23 Service de Pneumologie-Allergologie, Hôpital Larrey, CHU de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
24 Section of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College and Royal Brompton Hospital, London, United Kingdom
25 Allergy Unit, Children’s Hospital, Kantonsspital Aarau, Switzerland
26 Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Facultad de Medicina-UCM, IdISSC, Madrid, Spain
27 Research Centre for Prevention and Health, Glostrup University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
28 Department of Clinical Immunology, Wroclaw Medical University, Wrocław, Poland
29 Allergy & Asthma Center Westend, Outpatient Clinic Hanf, Ackermann & Kleine-Tebbe, Berlin, Germany
30 Center for Rhinology and Allergology, Wiesbaden, Germany
31 Krefting Research Centre, Department of Internal Medicine and Clinical Nutrition, Institute of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
32 Seccion de Alergia, Hospital Reina Sofía, Cordoba, Spain
33 Institute of Medical Statistics, Informatics and Epidemiology (IMSIE), Medical Faculty, University at Cologne, Cologne, Germany
34 Department of Pediatrics, Padua General Hospital, Padua, Italy
35 Pediatric Allergology and Pneumology, German Red Cross Clinic Westend, Berlin, Germany
36 Department of Pediatrics, Allergy Unit, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
37 Allergy and Respiratory Diseases, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
38 Center for Rhinology and Allergology, Wiesbaden, Germany
39 Department of Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Goteborg, Sweden
40 Allergy Service, Verona General Hospital, Verona, Italy
41 Clinical Trials Center, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
42 Suomen Terveystalo Allergy Clinic, Turku, Finland
43 Division of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
44 Department of Pulmonology, Intensive Care Medicine, Zentrum f. Innere Medizin, Klinik I, University Clinic Rostock, Rostock, Germany
45 Department for Pediatric Pneumology and Immunology, Charité Medical University, Berlin, Germany
46 UPC Research Laboratories, Allergy Department, 2nd Pediatric Clinic, University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Clinical and Translational Allergy 2012, 2:20 doi:10.1186/2045-7022-2-20
Published: 30 October 2012Abstract
Allergy today is a public health concern of pandemic proportions, affecting more than 150 million people in Europe alone. In view of epidemiological trends, the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) predicts that within the next few decades, more than half of the European population may at some point in their lives experience some type of allergy.
Not only do allergic patients suffer from a debilitating disease, with the potential for major impact on their quality of life, career progression, personal development and lifestyle choices, but they also constitute a significant burden on health economics and macroeconomics due to the days of lost productivity and underperformance. Given that allergy triggers, including urbanization, industrialization, pollution and climate change, are not expected to change in the foreseeable future, it is imperative that steps are taken to develop, strengthen and optimize preventive and treatment strategies.
Allergen specific immunotherapy is the only currently available medical intervention that has the potential to affect the natural course of the disease. Years of basic science research, clinical trials, and systematic reviews and meta-analyses have convincingly shown that allergen specific immunotherapy can achieve substantial results for patients, improving the allergic individuals’ quality of life, reducing the long-term costs and burden of allergies, and changing the course of the disease. Allergen specific immunotherapy not only effectively alleviates allergy symptoms, but it has a long-term effect after conclusion of the treatment and can prevent the progression of allergic diseases.
Unfortunately, allergen specific immunotherapy has not yet received adequate attention from European institutions, including research funding bodies, even though this could be a most rewarding field in terms of return on investments, translational value and European integration and, a field in which Europe is recognized as a worldwide leader. Evaluation and surveillance of the full cost of allergic diseases is still lacking and further progress is being stifled by the variety of health systems across Europe. This means that the general population remains unaware of the potential use of allergen specific immunotherapy and its potential benefits.
We call upon Europe’s policy-makers to coordinate actions and improve individual and public health in allergy by:
Promoting awareness of the effectiveness of allergen specific immunotherapy
Updating national healthcare policies to support allergen specific immunotherapy
Prioritising funding for allergen specific immunotherapy research
Monitoring the macroeconomic and health economic parameters of allergy
Reinforcing allergy teaching in medical disciplines and specialties
The effective implementation of the above policies has the potential for a major positive impact on European health and well-being in the next decade.
