Study on Prevalence of Allergic Rhinitis in a Sample Population from Eastern India using the Score for Allergic Rhinitis (SFAR) Technique

Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences,2014,4,2,1016-1019.
Published:May 2014
Type:Research Articles
Authors:
Author(s) affiliations:

Rudrajit Paul1,*, Parul Bagri1, Jayati Mondal2, Rivu Basu3

1Department of Medicine, Medical College Kolkata, India. 

3Resident, Department of Gynaecology, Medical College Kolkata, India.  

2Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, RG Kar Medical College Kolkata Department of Medicine, Medical College, Kolkata, India. 

Abstract:

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a very common ailment all over the world and it is a cause of significant morbidity. Studies from various Asia-Pacific countries have shown rising prevalence of AR, especially in the school age population. However, studies concerning prevalence of AR in India are very scanty in number. We undertook this pilot study in Eastern India to find the prevalence of AR. We selected adult subjects coming to the medicine outdoors of a tertiary care medical college of Eastern India. After excluding patients with nasal pathology like deviated septum, we administered the Score for allergic rhinitis (SFAR) to the study subjects. Those with scores ≥7 were considered to have AR. Then the data from subjects with AR was compared to those without AR. We had a total of 100 study subjects. 28 among them were found to have AR by SFAR criteria. 57% (n=16) of the subjects with AR were female. 53.5% (n=15) of the subjects with AR were in the 1530 year age group. There was no significant difference in type of housing or mode of cooking at home between AR and non-AR subjects. This pilot study shows the considerably high prevalence of AR in eastern India. However, more studies are needed to actually depict the co-morbid factors and allergens.

Occupation of subjects with allergic rhinitis (n=28)