Is allergic rhinitis a trivial disease?

Abstract

BACKGROUND:Asthma and rhinitis often coexist, which potentially increases the disease severity and can negatively impact a patients' quality of life. However, there are few reports based on data obtained from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood examining asthma severity in combination with rhinitis-related symptoms.OBJECTIVE:To demonstrate whether current rhinitis and current rhinoconjunctivitis are associated with the development of asthma or its increasing severity in Brazilian adolescents.METHODS:The prevalence of current asthma was correlated with the prevalence of current rhinitis and current rhinoconjunctivitis in adolescents (13 to 14 year olds) from 16 Brazilian centers (based on Spearman's rank correlation index). The influence of current rhinitis and current rhinoconjunctivitis on asthma presentation was also evaluated using the chi-squared test and was expressed as odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI).RESULTS:A significant positive correlation was observed between the prevalence of current asthma and current rhinitis (rs = 0.82; 95%CI: 0.60–0.93, p<0.0001) and between the prevalence of current asthma and current rhinoconjunctivitis (rs = 0.75; 95%CI: 0.47–0.89, p<0.0001). Current rhinitis was associated with a significantly increased risk of current asthma and of more severe asthma. Similar results were observed for current rhinoconjunctivitis.CONCLUSION:In this epidemiologic study of Brazilian adolescents, the presence of current rhinitis and current rhinoconjunctivitis was associated with a high risk of developing asthma and increased asthma severity. The mutual evaluation of rhinitis and asthma is necessary to establish an adequate treatment plan.

Laboratory animals and respiratory allergies: The prevalence of allergies among laboratory animal workers and the need for prophylaxis

“…Nevertheless, in future manuscripts, multiple logistic analyses will be applied to evaluate risk factors, to confirm these findings and to compare specific symptoms such as cough. The importance of this increase in sensitization has been reported in previous studies demonstrating the progression from sensitization to conjunctivitis and rhinitis, as well as asthma (6,18,21,22). …”

Asthma in children and adolescents in Brazil: contribution of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC)

“…Analyzing Brazilian data obtained in ISAAC Phase III in Brazilian adolescents, it was found that the association between asthma and rhinitis was high (r=0.82), as well as with rhinoconjunctivitis (r=0.75). The presence of current rhinitis and rhinoconjunctivitis was associated with increased risk of developing asthma and severe asthma ( 54 ) . This fact becomes more evident when atopic dermatitis is associated with rhinitis ( 55 ) .…”

Beta 2 adrenergic receptor polymorphisms, at codons 16 and 27, and bronchodilator responses in adult Venezuelan asthmatic patients

“…Nevertheless, it has been shown that: 1) In the LARGE multicenter study, asthmatics with Arg/Arg homozygous genotype, receiving inhaled corticosteroids, experience no change in hyperresponsiveness status even when long acting β2 agonists were used 8 ; 2) a combination of salmeterol plus inhaled corticosteroid in the patients Gly/Gly, at amino acid 16 increased 2.4 times the PC20, resulted in decreased bronchial hyperresponsiveness 5,8 ; 3) the Gly16/Gln27 haplotype was inversely associated with hyperresponsiveness to methacholine, while the Arg16/Gln27 haplotype was associated with a greater degree of hyperresponsiveness 9 , and 4) children homozygous and heterozygous for Arg16 had higher bronchodilator responses than Gly16 homozygotes patients 10 . These findings correspond to Caucasians, however, in Venezuela there is a high prevalence of asthma and a large Mestizo population which seem to have a high genetic segregation [11][12][13] . The relevance of these polymorphisms in various populations and its clinical relevance so far are unknown 2 .…”