RESUMO
Background: As a common disease among people of almost any age, allergic rhinitis has many adverse effects such as lowering the quality of life and efficiency at work or school. Considering these conditions and the collection of large amounts of data, the present research was conducted on allergic rhinitis and asthma patients' data to extract the common symptoms of these diseases using cluster analysis and the k-means algorithm. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional research was conducted in Mashhad city. The inclusion criteria were affliction with one or two respiratory allergy diseases diagnosed by an allergy specialist through clinical history taking and physical examination. A researcher-made checklist was used in the present study for data collection. Then, the K-means algorithm's cluster analysis model was conducted to extract clusters (WEKA software (3, 6, 9)). Results: Overall, 1,231 patients met the inclusion criteria. The result of the Cluster analysis consisted of Cluster 1 in allergic rhinitis consisted of 702 patients, and cluster 2 consisted of 382 patients.46 asthma patients were assigned to cluster 1 and 23 to cluster 2.Also, 60 asthma and allergic rhinitis patients were assigned to cluster 1 and 19 to cluster 2. The most common symptoms in all patients were rhinorrhea, sneezing, nasal congestion, and itchy nose. Conclusion: Overall, Salsola kali was the most common allergen in allergic rhinitis and asthma patients. Also, the most common symptoms in patients are rhinorrhea, sneezing, itchy nose, and nasal congestion. This study can help physicians diagnose allergic rhinitis and asthma in geographical areas with a high prevalence of Salsola kali.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Respiratory allergies are among the most common allergies in the world with an increasing number of people affected in recent decades. Determination of allergens prevalence in each area is considered as the first step in prevention of allergic diseases and developing novel and more effective immunotherapies. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of the most common allergens among patients with respiratory allergies in Mashhad, Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross sectional study included 1246 people who were referred to Allergy Clinic of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences with respiratory allergic symptoms from 2012 to 2017 in which a questionnaire containing demographic information was completed and Skin Prick Test was performed for each patient. RESULTS: Among 1246 patients with respiratory symptoms, there were 1084 patients with allergic rhinitis (87%), 69 patients with allergic asthma (5.5%), 14 patients with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (1.1%) and 79 patients with both allergic rhinitis and asthma (6.3%) with an overall male to female ratio of 1.18. Rhinorrhea (86.3%), sneezing (81.1%) and itchy eyes (68.4%) were the most common symptoms in patients with respiratory allergic disorders in this study and the highest rate of sensitivity was to pollens including Salsola kali (82.3%), pigweed mix (65.1%), tree mix (51.7%) and ash (49.8%), respectively. CONCLUSION: Generally, Salsola kali seems to be the main allergen in different respiratory allergies including allergic rhinitis, asthma and rhinoconjunctivitis in semi-arid climate of Mashhad, Iran.
