Aurora and crepuscle in infantile allergic rhinitis

ABSTRACT

Objectives: This study is designed to verify the circadianity of allergic rhinitis in children inhabiting a tropical city and to compare its rhythm in different annual seasons.Introduction: Allergic rhinitis presents a circadian and a circannual variation in the intensity of the symptoms. However, most of the studies are carried out with adults living in temperate/cold cities. Few data are available about children, especially those living in tropical climates.Methods: Observational study based on questionnaires. The caretakers of a total of 218 children inhabiting a tropical city that were diagnosed with active allergic rhinitis the moment they looked for prompt-attendance services were interviewed.Results: Coughing was the major symptom that alerted the caretakers. Blocked and runny noses were also very common. The symptoms were mostly intermittent and stronger during the aurora and the crepuscle. Most of the children woke up in the pre-dawn period.Discussion: The intermittence of the symptoms and the characteristic of woking the children up in predawn suggests that an ideal medication would be efficient in intermittent dosages, to be used only when necessary.Conclusions: The circadian rhythm of infantile allergic rhinitis has some features in common with the circadian rhythm of the asthma. It is similar to adult rhinitis, but presents some peculiarities.