Relationship between Responses to Bronchodilation Testing and to Nasal Decongestion Testing in Patients with Allergic Rhinitis Alone

• Main Authors: G. Ciprandi M.D, A. Pistorio, M.A. Tosca, I. Cirillo, G.L. Marseglia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2009-09-01
• Series: European Journal of Inflammation
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/1721727X0900700305

A remarkable relationship exists between upper and lower airways. Bronchial obstruction is a paramount feature of asthma as well as nasal obstruction of allergic rhinitis (AR). This study aims to evaluate the response to both bronchodilation and decongestion testing and their relationships in a large group of patients with moderate-severe persistent AR alone. Two hundred eleven patients with moderate-severe persistent AR were prospectively and consecutively evaluated. Clinical examination, skin prick test, spirometry, bronchodilation test, rhinomanometry, and decongestion test were performed on all patients. Seventeen subjects (8%) did not respond to any of the tests, 55 subjects (26.1%) were responders only to the decongestion test, 31 (14.7%) only to the bronchodilation test, and 108 subjects (51.2%) responded to both these tests. Longer AR duration was significantly associated with positive response to both tests (p<0.01). In conclusion, this study provides the first evidence that patients with moderate-severe persistent AR may frequently show reversibility to both bronchodilation and decongestion tests.