Clinical remission rates in severe asthma and its predictive factors in a real world setting from Argentina

Abstract

<bold>Aims and objective:</bold> (1) to describe rates of clinical remission (defined as fulfilling of 4 criteria after 12 months of treatment with biologics: no exacerbations; no use of systemic corticosteroids; Asthma Control Test score ≥20; FEV1% ≥80%); (2) to identify predictive factors of clinical remission <bold>Methods:</bold> Data from adolescents and adult subjects with severe asthma treated with biologics for 12 months from 9 specialized centers in Argentina was retrieved. Data were analyzed with non-parametric tests <bold>Results:</bold> n = 179; 66.48% female; median age 57 years (interquartile range [IQR]:46-65); asthma duration: 24 years (12.5-39); body mass index: 28.6 kg/m2 (24.3-32.3); obesity: 38%; basal FEV1: 64.5% [51.7–85]; eosinophil count: 460/µl [251–721]; IgE level: 298 U/L [93.5–738.5]; prevalence of T2 comorbidities: 91.06%, being allergic rhinitis the most frequent (56.4%). Proportion of patients without exacerbations, hospitalizations and non-scheduled visits improved significantly. Clinical remission rate was 20.11%; among these patients, 18.75% had normal spirometry with a negative bronchodilator test. Demographic, biochemical and imaging variables were not independently associated with remission rates; basal VEF1% was identified as an independent predictor <bold>Conclusion:</bold> in our large, real-world, severe asthma cohort, biologics use was associated with a remission rate (20.11%) resembling international data, independently of several characteristics. FEV1% was an independent predictor of remission