Prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre study on the effect of high-dose, intravenous immunoglobulin in children and adolescents with severe bronchial asthma.
OBJECTIVE
In order to study the effect of high-dose, intravenous immunoglobulin (i.v.IG) in severe childhood asthma, we investigated 31 children and adolescents (15 girls, 16 boys) aged 9-22 years (median age of 14 years) suffering from severe bronchial asthma.


METHODS
In a prospective, double-blind fashion, patients received either four doses of i.v.IG (1 g/kg body weight) or identical doses of intravenous human serum albumin. The first two doses were given on two consecutive days, followed by two further doses at 4 week intervals.


RESULTS
There was no statistical difference in the actively treated group when compared with the placebo group in symptom-score, bronchial hyperreactivity or peak-flow-variability. There was a trend for fewer total days of upper respiratory tract infections and also symptom-scores in the i.v.IG group but these did not reach statistical significance.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data indicate that treatment with i.v.IG in asthmatic children did not show a significant reduction in the incidence of upper respiratory tract infections, but the patients who did have upper respiratory infections in the i.v.IG-group appear to have less protracted infections. Severity and bronchial hyperreactivity do not seem to be affected by the treatment as performed in our study.
Niggemann
B
B
University of Children's Hospital, Berlin, Germany.
Leupold
W
W
Schuster
A
A
Schuster
R
R
v Berg
A
A
Grübl
A
A
v d Hardt
H
H
Eibl
M M
MM
Wahn
U
U
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D006969:Hypersensitivity, Immediate / Q000628:therapy; D016756:Immunoglobulins, Intravenous / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000150:complications
D016756:Immunoglobulins, Intravenous