Allergy Shots Don’t Benefit Children on Asthma Medication, Study Finds

Allergy shots, a mainstay of asthma treatment since the turn of the century, appear to be worthless for many youngsters. A study published in the Jan. 30 New England Journal of Medicine found that the shots do nothing for children with moderate to severe year-round asthma who are already taking standard medicines.

“We didn’t find any statistically significant benefits,” said Dr. N. Franklin Adkinson Jr., who directed the study at Johns Hopkins University. “This doesn’t mean the treatment is ineffective. But it means that in children who are getting adequate medical care . . . adding immunotherapy doesn’t do what we had hoped.”