Background: Allergic rhinitis is commonly divided into seasonal and perennial rhinitis. The recent Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) workshop proposes to replace these terms by intermittent vs persistent rhinitis. Methods: In order to test the new ARIA classification against the classical one used in medical practice in France, we designed two cross‐sectional surveys: (i) a spring survey, where 1321 general practitioners enrolled 3026 patients consulting for seasonal allergic rhinitis and (ii) an autumn–winter survey, where 1346 doctors enrolled 3507 patients for perennial allergic rhinitis. Both doctors and patients filled out a specific questionnaire on allergic rhinitis. Results: Focusing on the number of days per week and consecutive weeks per year, the patients described the duration of their symptoms (based on an auto‐questionnaire). About 43.7% of the patients, classified by their doctor as seasonal, did in fact have persistent rhinitis, whereas 44.6% classified as perennial had intermittent rhinitis. Conclusions: The proposal of the ARIA expert panel defining the chronology of allergic rhinitis as number of days per week and consecutive weeks per year is likely to change daily physician practice.

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The results of this observational study can provide a useful guide to the design of further randomised controlled trials.

In 1993 a preliminary survey was conducted in the Hospital of Gonesse to examine pressure sore prevalence. The averages obtained showed that 5.4% of patients in hospital suffer from pressure sores. This prompted a further investigation involving 12 050 patients: 5.2% were found to have pressure sores. Patients with pressure sores were significantly older (76.4±14 years) than the average age of patients in the study, and 42% of pressure sores were found in patients with neurological pathology. The majority of patients (57%) had a single pressure sore. Most were grade I lesions (38%). The greatest number of pressure sores were found on the medium and long-stay wards. A nationwide complementary survey is now being undertaken to confirm these overall results.

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