Gani F, Lombardi C, Bonizzoni G, Rolla G, Brussino L, Landi M, Schiappoli M, Senna G, Savi E, Ridolo E, Ventura MT, Gamba P, Patella V, Bugiani M. The Characteristics of
Severe Chronic Upper-Airway Disease (SCUAD) in Patients with Allergic Rhinitis: A Real-Life Multicenter Cross-Sectional Italian Study.
Int Arch Allergy Immunol 2019;
178:333-337. [PMID:
30605899 DOI:
10.1159/000495305]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2018] [Accepted: 11/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
There are few studies regarding severe chronic upper-airway disease (SCUAD) that represents an important socioeconomic problem for the treatment of rhinitis and associated comorbidities, particularly asthma.
OBJECTIVES
The aim of our study is to evaluate the prevalence of this pathology in patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) in real life, to phenotype allergic patients with SCUAD, and to identify which factors are related to the severity of the disease.
METHODS
We studied 113 patients with uncontrolled AR despite optimal adherence to therapy according to the Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) guidelines in a multicenter Italian study, analyzing comorbidity, use of additional drugs, not scheduled visits, and the number of emergency room admissions.
RESULTS
Our data suggest that polysensitization is the only statistically significant factor correlating with SCUAD. Asthma does not seem to represent a correlating factor. An important finding is the poor use (20%) of allergy immunotherapy (AIT), although patients were suffering from AR and the ARIA guidelines recommend the use of AIT in moderate/severe AR.
CONCLUSIONS
The SCUAD population seems not to have a specific phenotype; there is a greater presence of SCUAD in polysensibilized patients, perhaps a sign of greater inflammation.
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