Source: Allergy  |  Posted 9 years ago

Asthma patients demonstrate a high prevalence of rhinopathies, which need to recognized and managed by pulmonologists, as supported by new asthma care guidelines.

"Asthma patients should be investigated routinely for rhinitis and other rhinopathies," say investigators, led by Dr. P. Demoly from Hopital Arnaud de Villeneuve at the University of Montpellier in Montpellier. The researchers studied 1,623 patients with varying asthma severity seen by French office-based pulmonologists. The doctors were asked to enrol their first five adult patients with asthma presenting between March and June 2000. A total of 477 of the doctors surveyed (48%) agreed to participate.

Median age of patients was 35 years. The pulmonologists reported 76.6% had rhinopathy and 91% of those patients had chronic rhinopathy. Approximately 67% of the patients said they had rhinopathy.

Approximately 66% of patients were diagnosed with rhinitis and 10% with nasal polyposis. Sinus imaging was performed in 55% of the enrolled patients, with 17% undergoing computed tomography.

The investigators say that 21.6% of patients were referred to an ear, nose and throat specialist. Referral was most common in asthma patients with rhinitis who failed to respond to medical therapy, but some pulmonologists automatically referred asthma patients with rhinitis.

The findings support the recommendations from the proceedings of an international committee, Allergic Rhinitis and Its Impact on Asthma (ARIA), the researchers point out.