Allergic rhinits: impact on quality of life of adolescents.

SUMMARY: Adolescence is one of the most rapid phases of human development, in which biological maturity precedes psychosocial maturity. Rhinoconjunctivitis (ARC) is present in around 15 percent of 13-14-year-old children, which indicates a higher prevalence when compared with 6-7-year-old children (8.5 percent). During childhood (0-10 years) prevalence of Allergic Rhinitis (AR) is higher among males compared to females. Quite the reverse, during adolescence (11-17 years) females display higher prevalence of AR compared to males. However, when they reach adulthood (18-79 years), there is no difference in prevalence between genders. AR and ARC have significant physical and mental impacts on the QoL of adolescents and their parents. Apart from de adverse effects of first generation antihistamines, which include sedating effects, AR-ARC leads to school absences and poorer performance due to distraction, fatigue and irritability. The mobile technology facilitates an innovative investigatory approach to better and more precisely characterize allergy symptoms and their association with other allergic diseases. The success of treatment lies in the partnership between adolescents with AR and mobile technology, allowing them to have more information both on the disease and treatment. Adolescence is a special period in which AR is highly prevalent with some sex-dependent differences. There are also peculiarities on how AR affects QoL of adolescent patients.

Allergic rhinitis in preschool children from Southern Brazil.

There are few published studies on prevalence of allergic rhinitis in preschool children. The aims of this study were to verify the prevalence, clinical characteristics, and treatment of allergic rhinitis (AR) symptoms in the first year of life adding supplementary questions to the EISL instrument. A cross-sectional study used Phase III EISL written questionnaire in addition to modified allergic rhinitis ISAAC questions. One thousand and three parents of infants answered the questionnaire: 484 (48.3%) had at least one sneezing, or a runny or blocked nose episodes without cold or flu in the first year of life. A quarter of infants had recurrent wheezing (≥3 episodes) and more frequent in the presence of AR symptoms. Physician diagnosis of AR and the use of intranasal steroids and both antihistamines and intranasal steroids were more common among those infants with AR symptoms. The prevalence of AR symptoms was high and starting early in life.