Rhinitis Prevalence & Omalizumab Impact Study (RHOS)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating the prevalence of rhinitis in patients with severe asthma and the impact of omalizumab therapy
IRAS ID
218227
Contact name
Stephen Fowler
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Hospitals of South Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
Summary of Research
Asthma has been shown to be a large problem within the western world. The cost of treating asthma and problems associated with asthma is increasing every year. Due to the way that asthma affects our bodies it can also be associated with problems such as rhinitis. This leads to patients suffering from symptoms such as nasal congestion and mucus discharge. Rhinitis has been shown to severely impact the quality of life of patients, in particular, those patients suffering from asthma.
The research will be assessing the prevalence of rhinitis and it's sub types (allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis) within the asthma clinic population at University Hospital of South Manchester. We will be doing this by administering two questionnaires; the sino-nasal outcome test and the asthma quality of life questionnaire. These will help us assess how the quality of their asthma affects how severe their rhinitis symptoms may be and also determine the prevalence of rhinitis within a severe asthma group. These number could give us further information as to how we can target the asthma population with better rhinitis treatment if needed. From this cohort, there will some who are eligible for strong biologic treatment with Xolair. We will be using the same questionnaires along their 16-week treatment duration. This will allow us to assess how Xolair impact on asthma and rhinitis before, during and at the end of treatment.Summary of Results
Rhinitis and asthma present a large burden for both patients and healthcare services. With worsening rhinitis, asthma symptoms can deteriorate. Omalizumab is a biologic treatment that has been proven to improve the symptoms of asthma and rhinitis individually, but there is little evidence available showing how omalizumab affects patients suffering from asthma and rhinitis concomitantly. The use of omalizumab could present a solution to upper and lower airway disease treatment.Patients attending severe asthma clinics at Wythenshawe Hospital were included in this study. Consenting participants completed two questionnaires - the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) and Sino-Nasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22) in clinic. All patients commencing omalizumab treatment were also eligible for the study. Participants underwent the AQLQ/SNOT-22 questionnaires at the beginning, mid-point and end of treatment.
We found that 64% of a total 25 participants reported suffering from seasonal allergic rhinitis. Of those treated with omalizumab, there were no improvements in SNOT-22 /AQLQ scores following an average of 15 weeks of therapy.
As a result of our small sample size and limitations in the study design we were unable to draw definitive conclusions from this study. Further work is requires to determine the cost-effectiveness and efficacy of omalizumab as a dual therapy for asthma and rhinitis.
REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/0194
Date of REC Opinion
15 Feb 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion