Disease burdens of allergic rhinitis and asthma have recently been on the rise and Korea is not an exception. Lifetime prevalence of rhinitis reaches 39.0% and the medical expense for this disease has been significantly increased from KRW 113.7 billion(3.58 million patients) in 2006 to KRW 203.1 billion(5.96million patients) in 2010. Asthma is showing an increasing burden of disease as well. Of particular note, asthma in children is emerging as a social issue.

Among many different therapies for allergic rhinitis and asthma, immunotherapy is currently being used for the treatment of the two diseases in Korea and is gradually being used more widely as this is expected to change the natural pathway of allergic diseases and contribute to lower burden of disease by increasing the probability of cure. A problem with this immunotherapy though is that it is relatively more costly than other conventional therapies.

However, the evidence of effectiveness and safety of immunotherapy for the treatment of allergic rhinitis and asthma has not been sufficiently researched yet. Although there have been Cochrane Reviews on effectiveness and safety of subcutaneous and/or sublingual immunotherapy in allergic rhinitis and asthma, these reviews had been performed based on placebo controlled studies and therefore had limitations in reviewing the evidence of immunotherapy.

With this situation taken into account, this study was aimed to review the effectiveness and safety of immunotherapy for the treatment of allergic rhinitis and asthma, and review efficient therapeutic options with economic aspects also taken into account. Specific study objectives are as follows: Thus, this study was performed based on systematic review, retrospective study.