Background: Although severe asthma accounts for a small proportion of asthma cases, it accounts for more than half of asthma-related costs due to frequent emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and medication costs.
Aim: This study aimed to evaluate 10-year real-life data of patients using omalizumab for severe asthma in a single-center outpatient clinic.
Methods: Patients who followed up for severe asthma between 2009 and 2019 were included in the study. The symptoms, the frequency of asthma attacks, the history of hospitalization due to asthma, asthma control tests, the treatments, spirometry results, blood IgE and eosinophil values, and skin prick tests were evaluated.
Results: A total of 106 patients, 77 (72.6%) using omalizumab and 29 (27.4%) not using omalizumab, were evaluated in this study. There was no significant difference between demographic data, baseline symptoms, and pulmonary function tests in the initial evaluations of patients between the two groups. An average increase of 150 ml in FEV1 (p=0.006) and 200 ml in FVC (p<0.001) value was detected in the omalizumab group, then the not using omalizumab group. In patients using omalizumab, there was an increase in AKT scores (p<0.001), a decrease in hospitalization (p=0.003), and systemic steroid use (p<0.001) compared to non-users.
Conclusion: The results of our study show that initiation of omalizumab treatment in eligible patients contributes to clinical control and an increase in quality of life.