title: Non-allergic rhinitis in children: Epidemiological aspects, pathological features, diagnostic methodology and clinical management.
abstract: Chronic rhinitis is a very common disease, as the prevalence in the general population resulted to be 40%. Allergic rhinitis has been considered to be the most frequent form of chronic rhinitis, as non-allergic rhinitis has been estimated to account for 25%. However, several evidences suggested that non-allergic rhinitis have been underrated, especially in children. In pediatrics, the diagnostic definition of non-allergic rhinitis has been often limited to the exclusion of an allergic sensitization. Actually, local allergic rhinitis has been often misdiagnosed as well as mixed rhinitis has not been recognized in most cases. Nasal cytology is a diagnostic procedure being suitable for routine clinical practice with children and could be a very useful tool to characterize and diagnose non-allergic rhinitis, providing important clues for epidemiological analysis and clinical management.
authors.affiliation: Dimitri Poddighe, Department of Pediatrics, ASST Melegnanoe Martesana, 20070 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Dimitri
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Poddighe
authors.affiliation: Dimitri Poddighe, Department of Pediatrics, ASST Melegnanoe Martesana, 20070 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gelardi
authors.affiliation: Dimitri Poddighe, Department of Pediatrics, ASST Melegnanoe Martesana, 20070 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Amelia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Licari
authors.affiliation: Dimitri Poddighe, Department of Pediatrics, ASST Melegnanoe Martesana, 20070 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Michele Miraglia
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Del Giudice
authors.affiliation: Dimitri Poddighe, Department of Pediatrics, ASST Melegnanoe Martesana, 20070 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Gian Luigi
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Marseglia
keywords: Local allergic rhinitis; Nasal cytology; Non-allergic rhinitis; Pediatric chronic rhinitis