Understanding patients’ experiences of hayfever and its treatment: a survey of illness and medication cognitions

(2012) Understanding patients' experiences of hayfever and its treatment: a survey of illness and medication cognitions. This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies and may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the URL above for details on accessing the published version. Copyright and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. To the extent reasonable and practicable, the material made available in SRO has been checked for eligibility before being made available. Copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. Introduction Seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR), commonly known as hayfever, is a common and growing challenge in Primary Care. Increasing numbers of patients present with symptoms [1] and suboptimal use of medication is widespread [2]. he reported incidence of SAR is between 2-15%, depending on the diagnostic criteria and population [3]. he prevalence of SAR in UK school children has increased since the 1960s [1,4,5] and the lifetime prevalence of SAR also continues to increase in adults [6]. his rising prevalence has been relected in increased use of health services. Consultations with general practitioners (GPs) have increased [1]: the number of patients of all ages consulting GPs for SAR in England and Wales (ICD9-477) doubled between 1971-1991 [6]. Between 1991 and 2004, Primary Care prescriptions for nasal allergy increased by over 60% (from 2.7 to 4.5 million/year) and ocular anti-inlammatory prescriptions increased by 50% to 1.4 million/year [6]. While increases in prevalence statistics may relect increased patient awareness or altered diagnostic practice, the increase in prescriptions does conirm that more people are seeking treatment for SAR [7]. Common symptoms of SAR include sneezing, runny or blocked nose and itchy eyes [2,8]. Despite the availability of a wide range of symptom-relieving medications, SAR can signiicantly afect sufer-ers' perceived health and quality of life [9-14]. Only a minority of SAR patients report good symptom control, although this …