Clinical course of rhinitis and changes in vivo and in vitro of allergic parameters in elderly patients: a long-term follow-up study.
Changes in rhinitis symptom severity tend to decrease with aging, but whether the decrease is associated with allergic skin test reactivity, serum total and specific IgE, and nasal eosinophils or determined only by aging is poorly understood. The aim of the study was to analyze sensitivity in vivo and in vitro some 15 years after primary testing, skin prick test (SPT), serum total and specific IgE, ratio sIgE/tIgE, and nasal eosinophils in order to evaluate changes due to age and changes due to the severity of rhinitis symptoms. One hundred and eight rhinitis patients who had been investigated in 1995 were re-interviewed and their current allergy re-assessed after a follow-up of 15 years. All patients were SPT with eight common allergens in the area of Palermo (Italy). Rhinitis symptoms tended, on average, to have become milder at the follow-up. All parameters examined showed a decreasing trend in older age groups over the period between the two investigations. Rhinitis symptoms tend to become milder and the allergic parameters both in vivo and in vitro usually decrease in the long run; however, the changes in rhinitis symptoms appear to be related to changes in the nasal eosinophils, independently of SPT and serum-specific IgE.
Dipartimento di Medicina Interna e Specialistica (DIMIS), Università degli Studi di Palermo, Via del Vespro, 141, 90127, Palermo, Italy. gabriele.dilorenzo@unipa.it
Gabriele
G
Di Lorenzo
Maria Stefania
MS
Leto-Barone
Simona
S
La Piana
Vito
V
Ditta
Gaetana
G
Di Fede
Giovam Battista
GB
Rini
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D004804:Eosinophils / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood*; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009297:Nasal Mucosa / Q000276:immunology*; D065631:Rhinitis, Allergic; D012221:Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012867:Skin / Q000276:immunology*
D007073:Immunoglobulin E