[Ocular findings most frequently found in patients with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis].
BACKGROUND
Allergic etiology is suspected whenever a patient with conjunctivitis presents the typical clinical features; however, in ophthalmic practice, confirmation of the immune disease is uncommon. Ocular involvement is common in allergic rhinitis, and the current name of this entity is allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (ARC). Conjunctivitis diagnosis in ARC is inferred by the symptoms, but the most common ocular findings in patients with a confirmed allergic disease are unknown. The most common findings in allergic patients with ocular involvement were identified.


METHODS
Anterior segment of patients with an ARC diagnosis offered by an immunologist were evaluated, and the rates of the most common (whether considered related to allergy or not) were determined; 95% confidence intervals (CI) for rates were calculated.


RESULTS
One hundred and nineteen patients were evaluated, and the most common finding was conjunctival fornix edema (89.7%, 95% CI 83.5-94.7), followed by tarsal papillae (70.6%, 95% CI 62.4-78.8); the most common non-allergy-related finding was tear film deficiency (52.9%, 95% CI 43.9-61.9).


CONCLUSIONS
Conjunctival fornix edema was consistently more frequent than most of the signs used to diagnose allergic conjunctivitis in medical journals. It is suggested to intentionally look for this as recommended, in order to make a more easy diagnosis.
Aguilar-Angeles
Daniel
D
Servicio de Immunología y Alergia, Hospital Juárez de México, Av. Instituto Politécnico Nacional, 07760 México, D.F., Mexico.
Lima-Gómez
Virgilio
V
Rojo-Gutiérrez
Ma Isabel
MI
Bermejo-Guevara
Mario Alberto
MA
González-Ibarra
Misael
M
López-Valladares
Karina E
KE
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003233:Conjunctivitis, Allergic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012221:Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial / Q000150:complications*; D055815:Young Adult