Asthma Allergy Immunology

Asthma Allergy Immunology

2010, Vol 8, Num, 2     (Pages: 088-093)

Current treatment differences before 2003 and in 2009 in seasonal allergic rhinitis

Ayşe Bilge ÖZTÜRK 1, Ebru DAMADOĞLU 1, Gül KARAKAYA 1, Ali Fuat KALYONCU 1,

1 Hacettepe Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Göğüs Hastalıkları Anabilim Dalı, Erişkin Allerji Ünitesi, Ankara, Türkiye

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Objective: To evaluate the differences of seasonal allergic rhinitis (SR) treatment options which patients were receiving at admission to our clinic and provided by us later according to Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA).

Materials and Methods: Data of our published study that have evaluated the demographic characteristics, past treatments and our treatment of 774 SR patients (Group I) were compared with similar data of 233 SR patients (Group II) who were admitted to our clinic from May to July 2009 period.

Results: The mean age of patients for Group I and Group II were 29.1 ± 9.3 years and 31.2 ± 10.5 years, respectively; and 63% and 57% were women. When medications of the patients were concerned before admission to our clinic, long-acting antihistamines (p= 0.002) and nasal steroid (p= 0.004) use have seen significantly increased over the years, short-acting antihistamines (p= 0.008) and the use of specific immunotherapy (p= 0.016) have seen significantly decreased. Although there is a significant change in the treatment choices of other clinics over the years, long-acting antihistamines and nasal steroids which are the basic treatment of allergic rhinitis were still lower than our usage rate.

Conclusion: In our country, there are still training deficiencies in the treatment of allergic rhinitis and therefore more comprehensive training in the diagnosis and treatment of allergic rhinitis approach needs to be given during both medical education and postgraduate training.

Keywords : Seasonal allergic rhinitis, antihistamines, nasal steroids, treatment options