Purpose This retrospective study investigated the impact of Allergic Rhinitis (AR) patients receiving Allergen-specific Immunotherapy (AIT) on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, clinical characteristics, and prognosis. Methods This was a single-center, retrospective cohort study that included patients with AR who received subcutaneous desensitization with Aloege or sublingual desensitization from 10 December to 31 March 2023 at Changsha The Second Xiangya Hospital, China. Results The investigation comprised 761 outpatients, including 336 individuals with allergic rhinitis who underwent AIT and 425 healthy subjects. Patients with AR who received AIT treatment showed a significantly lower risk of COVID-19 infection in the multivariate analysis (OR=0.48, p = 0.005). The probability of developing hyposmia after contracting COVID-19 was reduced in the experimental cohort compared to the control cohort (OR = 0.39, 95 % CI 0.27‒0.57, p < 0.001). Additionally, the test group experienced a reduction in sore throat (OR = 0.32, 95 % CI 0.22‒0.47, p < 0.001) and a shorter duration of systemic symptoms (OR = 0.49, 95 % CI 0.34‒0.7, p < 0.001) following COVID-19 infection. Furthermore, it was discovered that the impact on quality of life after COVID-19 infection was significantly different between the two groups, with the test group exhibiting a higher quality of life compared to the control group ( p < 0.001). Conclusion During a concentrated or sudden outbreak of COVID-19, patients with AR who received AIT had a lower proportion of hyposmia than the healthy population, and the severity of sore throat and its impact on quality of life were relatively mild.
Li et al. (2026) studied this question.