Correlation of Features of Allergic Rhinitis and Allergic Conjunctivitis with Treatment Modalities

Abstract

Introduction: Allergic Rhinitis (AR) is a chronic, symptomatic allergic disorder of the nose that is usually caused by IgE-mediated inflammatory response following exposure to an allergen. The allergen could be in the form of dust, pollen, flower, animal dander, mold, cold, food allergens or insect. Clinically, AR occurs when there are recurrent nasal symptoms which are reversible either spontaneously or with medication in the preceding one year. Such symptoms include at least two of the following; excessive sneezing, running nose, nasal itching, nasal discharge, nasal congestion or obstruction. Previous studies have linked AR to be co-existed with another form of allergic disorders including AC, Atopic dermatitis and Allergic Asthma. This study is aimed at assessing the feature of  AR patients with coexistent AC as well as evaluating the effectiveness of the treatments offered to them. Objectives: The study was aimed at finding the correlation between the nasal and eye features in a patient who has co-existing allergic rhinitis and allergic conjunctivitis. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted between August 2018 and November 2019 among 38 patients who presented to ENT and Ophthalmology departments of Federal Teaching Hospital Ido-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Southwestern Nigeria and was diagnosed with both allergic rhinitis and allergic conjunctivitis. Relevant data obtained were analyzed using SPSS version 20.  P ≤ 0.05 was taken as significant. Results: The patients’ age range between 8 and 81 years with a median age of 33 years. The majority were less than 45 years (63.2%) with the male to female ratio of almost. Eye pain, itching, and redness account for 97.4% of all the eye features, while the presence of Cobblestone-like papillae is the least and accounted for 5%. Nasal itching (92.1%) was the commonest nasal symptom. Sleep disturbance was found to be the most common among those with eye itching (29.7%). Conclusion: This research was conducted to correlate the features of allergic rhinitis with those of conjunctivitis and common management and preventive measures offered to the patients seen in our clinics. The majority of the patients were less than 45 years with almost equal sex ratio. Eye pain, itching, and redness account for the majority of all the eye features, while the presence of Cobblestone-like papillae is the least eye feature. Nasal itching was the commonest nasal symptom and this was seen in the majority of the patients with eye symptoms.