Health-related quality of life assessment in patients with allergic rhinitis

Allergic rhinitis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways, which can interfere with many aspects of an individual's life and severely diminish the quality of life of the person affected. The objective of this study was to assess the quality of life of patients suffering from allergic rhinitis during and out of pollen season. The study involved 100 patients diagnosed with allergic rhinitis, 48 of who had seasonal, 25 perennial, and 27 who manifested both forms of allergic rhinitis. All study participants were treated at the Institute of Allergology and Immunology, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Belgrade, in the period March-November 2002. A specific quality of life questionnaire for patients with rhinoconjunctivitis was used in the study. During pollen season, itchy eyes (x2=6.34; p=0.042), red eyes (x2=7.44; p=0.024), and swollen eyes (x2=6.65; p=0.036) caused significantly more difficulties for subjects with seasonal and those with both seasonal and perennial rhinitis than for subjects with perennial allergic rhinitis. A highly significant difference in the mean scores of the indoors activity variable during and out of pollen season (F=347.28; p=0.000) was noted, that is to say, significant irritation was noted during pollen season among subjects with seasonal and those with both seasonal and perennial allergic rhinitis, however the dynamics of irritation remained the same in both study groups (F=0.145; p=0.704).The patients with seasonal and those with both seasonal and perennial allergic rhinitis experienced a significantly poorer quality of life during pollen season than out of it, as well as an inferior quality of life in comparison to patients with perennial allergic rhinitis during pollen season