Seasonal allergic rhinitis could predispose to the development of chronic bronchial inflammation. However, association between seasonal allergic rhinitis and airway function, especially exhaled nitric oxide [FENO], are not fully understood.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship among FENO and airway function and nasal symptoms in patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis without asthma..
Methods: We included 37 subjects [9 males and 28 females] in this study .Total serum IgE were investigated and specific IgE for four pollen allergens and five perennial antigens were determined by RAST. Sensitization to a specific allergen was defined as over RAST score 2. We compared 4 group. Group A: 7 nonatopic subjects [no nasal symptoms and RIST,RAST negative, 1 males and 6 females, mean age:33.2 24-52 years] Group B: 10 atopic subjects with a sensitization to Japanese ceder without medication [6 males and 4 females, mean age:44 20-58 years] Group C: 10 atopic subjects with a sensitization to Japanese ceder who took oral anti-histamine medicine during pollen season [ 2 males and 8 females, mean age:34.9 24-52 years] Group D: 10 atopic subjects with a sensitization to Japanese ceder who receive intranasal corticosteroid treatment during pollen season [ 2 males and 8 females, mean age:40.2 26-56 years] Score of nasal symptoms ,FENO, spirometry, total eosinophils, nasal eosinophils, were investigated before ,during, after pollen season.
Results:
Regardless of having treatment or not, in comparison with the subjects without the allergy, FENO showed a statistically significant increase in all patients with a sensitization to Japanese after pollen season. In group D, v 50/ v 25 was the tendency to adversely affect after the pollen season, and correlation between FeNO rate of the change and v 50 / v25 rate of the change admitted. As for the other indexes, a statistically change were not showed in the comparison of each group.
Conclusions:
These results suggest that FENO is a primarily marker of bronchial inflammation in patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis during pollen season and intranasal corticosteroid treatment may be effective for improvements in lower airway outcome.