Association of Hemoglobin Level with Clinical Severity and other Disease Markers in Patients with Allergic Rhinitis

Abstract

Background: Allergic rhinitis is a common disorder of immune origin. It has a significant effect on the quality of life of patients with subsequent social, occupational, economic, and psychological effects. It is characterized by a local and systemic inflammatory process mediated by immunoglobulin E (IgE) after exposure to various types of allergens. The associated systemic inflammation is evident by raised levels of several inflammatory markers, as well as by the effect of this inflammation on various other body systems. This study aims to characterize the prevalence of anemia in patients with allergic rhinitis and evaluate the relationship of hemoglobin level to some inflammatory biomarkers of the disease. Methods: The study population consist of 150 patients with allergic rhinitis randomly selected from patients visiting the department of otolaryngology clinic in Al-Sadder teaching hospital in Annajaf, Iraq during the period from April 1st, 2016 to March 30th 2017. The mean age of participants was 30.7(±10.95) years with a mean duration of allergic rhinitis of 5.4(±4.7) years. In this study, several serum and nasal markers were measured which include total serum immunoglobulin-E, inflammatory cytokines (interlukine-6, interlukine-18), leptin hormone and eosinophil count in nasal smear. Suitable Statistical tests were used to evaluate different possible associations among various measured parameters of interest and P<0.05 was considered as significant. Results: The study findings showed a significant negative correlation between hemoglobin levels and the serum level of IL-6, leptin, IgE and blood eosinophil count. The prevalence of anemia was significantly higher in patients with more severe nasal eosinophilia than those with mild nasal eosinophilia. Similarly, the prevalence was significantly higher in patients with perennial type of allergic rhinitis than those with seasonal type. Conclusions: Some markers of systemic inflammation in allergic rhinitis correlate significantly with hemoglobin levels and may have etiologic contribution to the anemia in these patients specially in the perennial type of the disease .