Adherence rates and reasons for extending SCIT administration intervals
104 (31.8%) patients (Group 3) were considered as non-adherent whereas 72 (22%) patients (Group 2) who extended injection intervals for less than 2 months and 151 (46%) patients (Group 1) who received injections on routine injection visits were adherent.
The reasons for extending the SCIT administration intervals during the pandemic in Group 2 (n=72) in decreasing significance order were as follows; staying at home due to precautionary reasons for 33 patients (45.8%), unwilling to go to the hospital for 18 patients (25%), transportation problems for 6 patients (8.3%), delay in the import of the vaccine for 4 patients (5.6%), having acute COVID-19 for 4 patients (5.6%), the thought that allergy clinics were closed during the pandemic for 4 patients (5.6%) and personal reasons unrelated to the pandemic for 3 patients (4.2%).
In Group 3, the reasons of non-adherence were; staying at home due to precautionary reasons for 48 patients (46.2%), unwilling to go to the hospital for 12 patients (11.5%), transportation problems for 17 patients (16.4%), delay in the import of the vaccine for 16 patients (15.4%), having acute COVID-19 for 5 patients (4.8%), having a health problem other than COVID-19 for 2 patients (1.9%), the thought that allergy clinics were closed during the pandemic for 2 patients (1.9%) and personal reasons unrelated to the pandemic for 2 patients (1.9%), respectively.
Univariate analysis revealed that AIT with HDM and public transport usage were higher in the non-adherent group than the adherent group (p=0.003, p=0.010, respectively) whereas the patients receiving pollen SCIT with or without another concomitant allergen (n=96) were more adherent (p=0.003) (Table 1). In the logistic regression analysis, AIT with HDM and public transport usage were significantly higher among non-adherent patients (patients in Group 3) than adherent patients (patients in Group 1 and Group 2) (p=0.009, p=0.026, respectively) (Table 2).