Methods: Patients suffering from AR caused by grass pollen only, and healthy subjects were studied. The severity of rhinitis was defined according to ARIA. All subjects underwent nasal cytology, using a Rhino-probe. Scrapings were air-dryied and stained by May-Grunwald-Giemsa. Differential cell count was expressed as % of the total leukocytes. Unpaired t test was used for comparisons.
Results: Sixty-two grass-allergic patients (34 men, mean age 35.2 years) and 18 healthy subjects (10 men, mean age 32) were studied. 67.8% of patients had intermittent AR (33.9% mild and 33.9% moderate-severe) and 32.2% had persistent AR (14.5% mild and 17.7% moderate-severe). The patients with moderate-severe AR had significantly more mast cells and lymphocytes than those with mild AR, with a relatively smaller number of neutrophils and eosinophils. Mast cells and/or lymphocytes could be detected in only 3/30 patients with mild rhinitis, and in 19/32 patients with moderate/severe rhinitis. No difference in cell counts was found when comparing intermittent and persistent AR.
Conclusions: Moderate/severe allergic rhinitis displays a cytological inflammatory pattern different from mild rhinitis.