title: Allergic rhinitis and ear pain in flight.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ear pain is the most common physiologic incident in hypobaric chamber training in the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, and the incidence of ear pain has been gradually increasing. There has been a concomitant increase in the incidence of allergic rhinitis in Japan. We hypothesized that the increased incidence of ear pain may be due to the increased incidence of eustachian tube dysfunction associated with allergic rhinitis.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To explore whether there is an association between allergic rhinitis and ear pain experienced in hypobaric chamber training.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined 9 years of training records and noted whether there was a seasonal influence on the occurrence of ear pain in 7047 trainees. In addition, we studied the prevalence of allergic rhinitis among trainees during a representative training year using a questionnaire method, noting association between allergic rhinitis and the occurrence of ear pain.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Comprehensive review of training records showed 429 (6.1%) of 7047 trainees complained of ear pain. Ear pain occurred more often in spring than the other 3 seasons. The questionnaire data showed 202 (23.0%) of 878 trainees had allergic rhinitis. Trainees with allergic rhinitis complained of ear pain more often in the spring than trainees without allergic rhinitis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Active allergic rhinitis is closely associated with the occurrence of ear pain in hypobaric chamber training. A similar phenomenon might occur in an actual flight. Special attention should be paid to not only common cold but also allergic rhinitis in both hypobaric chamber training and actual flights.
authors.affiliation: Aeromedical Laboratory, Japan Air Self-Defense Force, Tachikawa, Tokyo 190-8585, Japan. aml025@asdf.mail.jda.go.jp
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ohrui
authors.forename: Akihiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iwata
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Koichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohashi
mesh_terms: D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D004423:Ear / Q000473:pathology; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D010146:Pain / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D006255:Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012621:Seasons; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching