Obstructive Allergic Rhinitis Research Articles

Small airway obstruction in allergic rhinitis

Applying newer techniques to assess the reactivity of small peripheral airways, we studied the effects of saline and methacholine inhalation in patients with allergic rhinitis. The maximum midexpiratory flow rate (MMF) and the maximum terminal flow (MTF) were used to assess the degree of small airway obstruction. Four rhinitis patients (13 per cent) had abnormal baseline MMF and/or MTF and 12 patients (38 per cent) developed a decrease in MMF and/or MTF after saline inhalation. Twenty-one patients (66 per cent) responded to methacholine inhalation with a greater than 20 per cent fall in the MMF and/or MTF. This response was significantly different from that of the control subjects (p less than 0.01). The patients' hyperresponsiveness appears to be similar to that of asthmatic patients except that the obstruction is primarily limited to the airways.

Physiologic and clinical estimates of the relief of nasal flow obstruction in allergic rhinitis: effects of a topical decongestant (oxymetazoline).

Precise, sensitive electronic techniques offer the prospect of quantitating nasal pressure-flow relationships in disease and the impact of medical and surgical treatment. This study considered the value of electronic posterior rhinometry, and its correlation with qualitative clinical recording of patient status, arterial blood pressure, pulse and respiration rates, in the treatment of 30 children with chronic allergic rhinitis who received oxymetazoline pediatric nasal solution three times daily for two weeks. Computer analysis plotted inspiratory, expiratory and total nasal flow resistance curves for all patients and for children above and below 6 years of age. Use of the decongestant solution was marked by a fall from the elevated control means for the resistance measurements which was significant at the 95% confidence level and persisted for 14 days after treatment had been stopped. Measurements of vital signs did not differ meaningfully from baseline determinations. The behavior of the indices for the...

Comparative effects of transient body surface cooling, recumbency, and induced obstruction in allergic rhinitis and control subjects

Using a quantitative measurement of nasal air flow resistance, nasal obstruction has been objectively demonstrated in response to body surface chilling, with recumbency, and following transient interruption of nasal ventilation. Persons with concurrent allergic rhinitis showed significantly greater decreases in airway patency than were observed in comparable control subjects. Meaningful analyses of the circumstances in which allergic rhinitis occurs should include consideration of the nasal effects of nonimmunologic factors.