Clinical Features in Patients of Allergic Rhinitis

Abstract

Allergic rhinitis is caused by an inflammatory response to an allergen to which the patient has already been exposed. In this study we aim to study the presenting complaints, clinical features and findings in a group of 100 patients of allergic rhinitis. A total of 100 patients with allergic rhinitis were enrolled into the study. We conducted a prospective interventional study on adult population (>=18 years) suffering from AR having two or more of the following symptoms– Sneezing, Itching in nose, eyes ,ears and palate, Nasal discharge, Nasal obstruction, Allergic salute, allergic shiner, Anosmia, Pale blue nasal mucosa, Hypertrophied boggy inferior turbinates. We found that there is high prevalence of AR in young population. Our study shows that the most common presenting complaints were sneezing (100% ) and nasal itching or pruritis (99%), followed by rhinorrhea (97%) ,nasal obstruction (70%) , headache (60%) and PND (69%). Patients also presented with discomfort in activities due to AR (71%), irritability (49%) and absence of sleep (46%). 62% of the patients on nasal examination had pale nasal mucosa , while 38% of the patients had pale nasal mucosa along with inferior turbinate hypertrophy. Keywords: AR – Allergic rhinitis, DNS- Deviated nasal septum, PND- Posterior nasal drip