PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Benoni Roberto AU - Panunzi Silvia AU - Batani Veronica AU - Moretti Francesca AU - Fuggini Stefano AU - Todesco Mattia AU - Senna Gianenrico AU - Poli Albino AU - Vianello Andrea AU - Caminati Marco TI - Clinical response to biologics for severe asthma: any relevance for sex in different age ranges? AID - 10.1183/23120541.00670-2021 DP - 2022 Jan 01 TA - ERJ Open Research PG - 00670-2021 4099 - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/early/2022/04/07/23120541.00670-2021.short 4100 - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/early/2022/04/07/23120541.00670-2021.full AB - Whether sex can influence the clinical response to biologic treatment in severe asthma patients has not been fully addressed. The aim of this study was to investigate in severe asthma patients undergoing biologic treatment the individual evolution of lung function measurements and patient reported asthma control scores over a twelve-months follow-up period, in relation to patients’ sex, in different age ranges. Secondly, the change in the administered dose of oral corticosteroids (OCS) before and after twelve-months treatment was investigated. Overall 64 patients (58% females and 42% males) with a median age of 52 years were enrolled in the study. No relevant differences in terms of lung function, patient reported asthma control, exacerbation rate and daily OCS dose were observed by gender within the study timeframe. A separate sub-analysis by biologic treatment, confirmed the same finding. Stratifying individuals by age, we showed that elderly men resulted in lower lung function parameters’ values (FEV1% predicted and FEV1/FVC index) when compared to elderly women, whereas an opposite trend was observed in terms of ACT score. No other relevant differences were detected after age-stratification. According to our findings gender seems not to act as a determinant of treatment response to biologics in severe asthmatics. Although to be confirmed in larger studies, our data suggest that neither gender nor age of patients should limit the biologic treatment prescription, once that the eligibility criteria for that therapy are satisfied.FootnotesThis manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the ERJ Open Research. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJOR online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.Conflict of interest: Benoni Roberto has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Panunzi Silvia has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Batani Veronica has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Moretti Francesca has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Fuggini Stefano has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Todesco Mattia has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Senna Gianenrico has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Poli Albino has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Vianello Andrea has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Caminati Marco has nothing to disclose.