Immunoglobulin replacement therapy (IRT) via intravenous (IVIG) or subcutaneous (SCIG) administration routes is the standard treatment for patients with humoral immunodeficiencies. The aim of our work is to describe and compare the clinical characteristics, the treatment regime and the impact on the quality of life of patients with IGIV and IGSC in a Hospital Unit of Minority Diseases.
For this purpose, we retrospectively analysed the data of 61 patients receiving IRT for 12 months. Clinical and therapeutical variables were recorded and statistically processed with SPSS 20 software.
The mean age of the participants was 45 years-old and 59.6% (34) were women. The most frequent diagnoses were common variable immunodeficiency (62.2%) and secondary immunodeficiencies. Bronchiectasis was present in 36.7% of the patients, followed by enteropathy (31.7%) and dermopathies (28.3%).
Patients treated with IVIG were significantly older than those on SCIG. No significant sex differences were observed. 84.2% of the patients switched the administration route, mainly from IGIV to IGSC (91.4%). Adverse reactions were more frequently seen with IVIG (18.2%) with respect to SCIG (10.8%), and they were predominantly systemic in the first group. There were no significant differences in the posology, the through levels or in the average days lost.
This study shows that IRT with SCIG is safer and equally effective compared to IVIG, as suggested by previous evidence. The SCIG route is preferred among younger patients, probably due to greater ease in training and the need to preserve their work or school activity versus older and more inactive adults.