Comorbidity of bronchial asthma and allergic rhinitis in its alternative course in school-age children

Abstract

The study of the comorbidity of bronchial asthma (BA) and allergic rhinitis (AR) in children will expand the understanding of the pathogenetic mechanisms of the most trending childhood allergic diseases.

Purpose — to investigate some clinical and paraclinical features of AR in its alternative course in schoolchildren for the optimization of the personalized antiinflammatory therapy of patients with comorbidity of BA and AR.

Materials and methods. A comprehensive clinical and paraclinical examination of 66 of school-age children with BA with concomitant AR has beenperformed. Depending on the course of AR, patients have been divided into 2 groups: group I — 34 children with BA and intermittent AR (mean age — 13.4±0.8 years, the proportion of boys — 70.5%), group II — 32 asthma patients, which have signs of persistent AR (mean age — 12.1±1.1 years) (p>0.05), the proportion of boys — 81.2% (p>0.05). The diagnosis of BA and AR was established according to the modern requirements. All children underwent a study of bronchial lability by assessing their response to dosed exercise and inhalation of short-acting β2-adrenomimetics (200 mcg salbutamol) followed by calculation of bronchial lability, considered as the sum of its components — indicies of bronchospasm and bronchodilation.

Results. Patients with persistent allergic rhinitis have had a more severe and less controlled course of bronchial asthma with a 3.0-fold increased risk. The baseline spirographic examination has showed that patients with intermittent allergic rhinitis were three times more likely to have FEV1<80% and the higher chances of marked airway lability at the level of small bronchi, including by forced midexpiratory flow rate as well.

Conclusions. The comorbid course of bronchial asthma and intermittent allergic rhinitis in children was accompanied by a lower chance of uncontrolled asrhma, along with a higher probability of developing nonspecific airway hyperreactivity.

The research was carried out in accordance with the principles of the Helsinki Declaration. The study protocol was approved by the Local Ethics Committee of all participating institution. The informed consent of the patient was obtained for conducting the studies.

No conflict of interest was declared by the authors.