Research Paper - Archives of General Internal Medicine (2018) Volume 2, Issue 3

Cross Sectional Study: Prevalence of Allergic Rhinitis among Adult Asthmatic Patients in Kuwait.

Background: Allergic rhinitis is prevalent co-morbidity among asthmatic patients. The literature has suggested that it is responsible for poor asthma control. Also, it was found to be an important risk factor for developing of asthma in general population. In Kuwait there are no previous studies that estimated the prevalence of such an association. This study conducted to evaluate the prevalence of allergic rhinitis on adult bronchial asthma in a single center in Kuwait and to examine other common associations.

Material and methods: This is a cross sectional study in a single center to evaluate the prevalence and allergic rhinitis and its effect on asthma management among adults. The data was collected through a distribution of an online questionnaire the score for allergic rhinitis (SFAR) to known asthmatic patients who were diagnosed previously with bronchial asthma in a period of six weeks between January and February 2018. Analyzed, discussed and compared to other relevant study.

Results: 494 asthmatic patients participated in the questionnaire in a period of 6 weeks. 74.7% were females and 25.3% was males. 39.7% of patients were obese and 13% were smokers. The vast majority of asthmatic patients experienced symptoms of allergic rhinitis in the past 12 months. The most common symptoms experienced were; sneezing (48%), nose itching (45.5%), and cough (35.6%), moreover, 34.4% had runny nose. and 20.9% have had their eyes itching. Interestingly sneezing showed a decreasing prevalence as getting older among males but not females, also runny nose showed biphasic course among age groups. Two thirds (69.4%) of the patients were not using any rhinitis medications.

Conclusion: Allergic rhinitis is a common co-morbidity among asthmatic adult patients in our study in Kuwait. The vast majority of patients were not using their rhinitis treatment. Better patient education and adherence to treatment is warranted. Further studies needed to assess the impact of rhinitis treatment on asthma control in Kuwait.

Author(s): Fares Alkhaldy, Adel Abdelhamy, Abdullah Alsaeedi

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