As‐Needed Versus Regular Medication Use in the Treatment of Allergic Rhinitis in the Pollen Season: A MASK ‐air Study

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Publication Details

Journal
Allergy
Published
2026-09-09
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/all.70508
Primary Topic
Allergic Rhinitis and Sensitization
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

As‐Needed Versus Regular Medication Use in the Treatment of Allergic Rhinitis in the Pollen Season: A MASK ‐air Study

Ana Margarida Pereira, Torsten Zuberbier, Bilun Gemicioğlu, Mattia Giovannini et al.
Allergy
Allergic Rhinitis and Sensitization
article

As‐Needed Versus Regular Medication Use in the Treatment of Allergic Rhinitis in the Pollen Season: A MASK ‐air Study

Ana Margarida Pereira, Torsten Zuberbier, Bilun Gemicioğlu, Mattia Giovannini, Yi‐Kui Xiang, Rafael José Vieira, Bernardo Sousa‐Pinto, Juan Carlos Ivancevich, Matteo Martini, Orathai Jirapongsananuruk, Ludger Klimek, Antonio Bognanni, Violeta Kvedarienė, Danilo Di Bona, N. Pham‐Thi, Michał Ordak, Jean Bousquet, Frederico S. Regateiro, J. Sastre, Kangsadarn Tanjararak, Sanna Toppila‐Salmi, Holger J. Schünemann, Maria Teresa Ventura, ILGIM VARDALOĞLU KOYUNCU, Marek Niedoszytko, Mohamed H. Shamji, Rita Amaral, Anna Bedbrook, Luís Taborda‐Barata, Nikolaos G. Papadopoulos, Maria José Torres, Luisa Brussino, Patrizia Bonadonna, Manuel Marques‐Cruz, André Moreira, Oliver Pfaar, Mark S. Dykewicz, Arunas Valiulis, João A. Fonseca
article en

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Patients with allergic rhinitis often use as-needed medication instead of regular treatment. Using data from the MASK-air mHealth app, we compared weeks with use of as-needed versus regular medication on treatment satisfaction and symptom control. METHODS: We assessed data from the MASK-air app. We compared weeks in the pollen season in which patients reported the use of one same medication during all the days in the week ("regular treatment") versus those in which patients reported the use of the same single medication (and no other treatments) in at most 4 days per week ("as-needed treatment"). We built mixed-effects linear regression models, evaluating the differences between regular and as-needed treatments on visual analogue scales for symptom control and treatment satisfaction. We performed sensitivity analyses (i) considering a different definition of as-needed treatment (use of medication ≤ 2 days per week), and (ii) evaluating treatment days preceded by non-treatment days. RESULTS: We assessed 2690 weeks (18,830 days, 1042 MASK-air users). For intranasal corticosteroids (INCS) and fixed combinations of intranasal antihistamines (INAH) + INCS, there were no significant differences between as-needed versus regular treatments for treatment satisfaction. For oral antihistamines (OAH) and INCS + OAH, results tended to favour as-needed approaches. For symptom control, we observed either no significant differences between the two approaches or significant differences favouring as-needed medication use. Similar results were found in the sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSION: Some patients use medication regularly and others use it on-demand. This study shows that both approaches can satisfy patients and result in good disease control.

Allergy
University of Foggia (IT), Airbus (France) (FR), Tongji University (CN), Marche Polytechnic University (IT), Uppsala University (SE), Siriraj Hospital (TH), Humanitas University (IT), École Polytechnique (FR), Medical University of Białystok (PL), Philipps University of Marburg (DE), University of Beira Interior (PT), Vilnius University (LT), University of Eastern Finland (FI), Universidade do Porto (PT), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (DE), Université Paris Cité (FR), Helsinki University Hospital (FI), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ES), Hospitais da Universidade de Coimbra (PT), Hospital de São João (PT), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE), Vilnius University of Applied Sciences (LT), Technologies pour la Santé (FR), Lung Institute (US), ENT and Allergy (US), Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology (DE), Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie (DE), Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga (ES), NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre (GB), Administração Regional de Saúde de Lisboa e Vale do Tejo (PT), Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa (TR), Bağcılar Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi (TR), CUF Porto Hospital (PT), Meyer Children's Hospital (IT), Zentrum für Rhinologie und Allergologie (DE), A. O. Ordine Mauriziano di Torino (IT), Hospital Universitario Fundación Jiménez Díaz (ES), Institute of Sciences of Food Production (IT), Decision Sciences (United States) (US), Centre for Health Technology and Services Research (PT), Laboratoire d'Informatique de l'École Polytechnique (FR), Ramathibodi Hospital (TH), Asthma Association (BG), Allergy and Asthma Federation (FI), Istituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IT), National Research Council (IT), Shanghai Skin Disease Hospital (CN), i3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto (PT), International Renal Research Institute of Vicenza (IT), Instituto Cardiovascular de Buenos Aires (AR), University of Florence (IT), Saint Louis University (US), University of Turin (IT), University of Bari Aldo Moro (IT), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (ES), Istanbul University (TR), Athens State University (US), Gdańsk Medical University (PL), University of Coimbra (PT), Polytechnic Institute of Porto (PT), McMaster University (CA)
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Allergic Rhinitis and Sensitization
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