Need for medication and stuffy nose predict the severity of allergic rhinitis

As a part of the Finnish Allergy Programme 2008-2018 [1], we surveyed patients to assess allergic rhinitis symptoms, the use of medications and health care services in Finland. The study cohort consisted of 1,114 patients aged 5–75 years (mean age, 47 years; 72% females) who obtained asthma or allergy medication from 382 Finnish pharmacies (47% of all 812 pharmacies) across the country. The participants were the first consecutive 1–5 clients per pharmacy purchasing asthma or allergy medication during 1 week period in September 2010 [2]. Participants (or their parents for those 5 to 16 years old) completed a self-administered questionnaire to assess their allergy symptoms, use of medications, health care service use (number of hospital admissions and physician appointments). In those patients with self-reported allergic rhinitis, we examined symptom severity by using the Rhinasthma questionnaire and an allergy severity score on numeric rating scale (NRS). Rhinitis was rated as no symptoms (0 to 1), mild symptoms (2 to 5), moderate symptoms (6 to 8) and severe symptoms (9 to 10). We studied the determinants of moderatesevere allergic rhinitis (NRS 6 to 10, n = 682) and the correlation of NRS and Rhinasthma questionnaire. Amongst all 1,114 participants, 1,068 had self-reported physician diagnosed asthma or allergic rhinitis or both and 682 (61%) reported physician diagnosed allergic rhinitis. Participants with moderate to severe rhinitis (NRS of 6 to 10, n = 277, of which 186 [67.1%] had self-reported physician diagnosed asthma) and patients with mild rhinitis (NRS of 2 to 5, n = 384 of which 246 [64.1%] had asthma) and were compared to those with asymptomatic rhinitis or no rhinitis (n = 407, of which 344 [84.5%] had asthma). In this group all the patients had some atopic disorder (asymptomatic rhinitis, NRS 0-1, asthma, atopic eczema, food allergy or allergic conjunctivitis or two or more of the previous conditions). Items in the Rhinasthma section were divided into 5