Prevalence and Maintenance of Clinical Remission in Patients with Severe Uncontrolled Asthma Undergoing Biologic Therapies

Abstract

Clinical remission is an emerging treatment goal in severe asthma, although real-world data on its long-term maintenance remain limited. We retrospectively evaluated 50 patients who initiated first-line biologic therapy with omalizumab, mepolizumab, or reslizumab between 2015 and 2019. Clinical remission at 12 months was defined as no moderate or severe exacerbations, an asthma control test (ACT) score of ≥20, post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 second of ≥80% predicted, and no use of maintenance oral corticosteroid. Of these patients, 13 (26.0%) met the criteria for remission. They had significantly higher unadjusted baseline forced vital capacities (FVC; 103.6% vs. 85.7%, p = 0.002) and ACT scores (17.5 vs. 11.0, p < 0.001), and 6 (46.2%) maintained remission over a median follow-up of 63.0 months. Although remission was achieved in approximately one-quarter of patients, it was maintained in fewer than half. Our baseline FVC and ACT findings require confirmation in larger studies.