Clinical characteristics of allergic rhinitis according to allergic rhinitis and its impact on asthma guidelines.
OBJECTIVE
The Allergic rhinitis and its impact on asthma (ARIA) guidelines were suggested for use to classify allergic rhinitis (AR). However, few studies have been performed in Asians. The objective of this study is to identify the clinical characteristics of AR in Korean patients according to the ARIA guidelines.


METHODS
For the study, 610 patients who had been diagnosed with allergic rhinitis at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital and 545 patients who had been diagnosed with allergic rhinitis at 3 local clinics were included. All the patients were categorized into 4 groups, such as the mild intermittent, mild persistent, moderate-severe intermittent and moderate-severe persistent groups. The patients were given a questionnaire on allergic rhinitis-related symptoms and they underwent blood tests, including the blood eosinophil count and the serum total IgE level.


RESULTS
The most prevalent type was the moderate-severe persistent group (34.7%), and the moderate-severe intermittent group (17.1%) was the rarest. There were significant differences among the 4 groups for olfaction (P<0.001), self-awareness of rhinitis (P=0.013), a previous history of AR (P<0.001), self-awareness of asthma (P=0.001) and allergic conjunctivitis (P<0.001). On the allergy laboratory tests, there was a significant difference between the groups for the eosinophi count (P=0.004). The number of blood eosinophil was more in the persistent groups than in the intermittent groups.


CONCLUSIONS
According to the ARIA guidelines, the moderate-severe persistent group was the most prevalent for Korean patients. Blood eosinophilia and olfactory dysfunction were the most severe in the moderate-severe persistent group.
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
Chul Hee
CH
Lee
Jeong Hun
JH
Jang
Hyun Jong
HJ
Lee
Ic-Tae
IT
Kim
Mu Jin
MJ
Chu
Chun Dong
CD
Kim
Yu-Sung
YS
Won
Jeong-Whun
JW
Kim