Katsimpris Petros, Deftereou Theodora, Trypsianis Gregory, Balatsouras Dimitrios, Danielides Gerasimos, Alexiadis Triantafyllos, Dimitrova Polina, Lialiaris Stergios, Lambropoulou Maria, Katotomichelakis Michael
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Medical School, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, GRC.
Laboratory of Histology-Embryology, Medical School, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, GRC.
Cureus. 2023 Jun 14;15(6):e40397. doi: 10.7759/cureus.40397. eCollection 2023 Jun.
The relationship between disease severity and exposure to allergens in allergic rhinitis (AR) patients is not fully clarified presently. We aimed to detect the correlation between airborne pollen and fungi concentrations in a Mediterranean region with symptom scores.
A total of 98 patients suffering from AR rated their symptoms at the time of exacerbation using the Total 5 Symptoms Score (T5SS) and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Patients' quality of life (QoL) was estimated by using either disease-specific (Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ) and mini-RQLQ) or generic (Short-Form 36 (SF-36) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)) questionnaires. All patients' responses were correlated with aerobiological data. Skin prick tests (SPTs) were used to detect sensitivities to the most common registered pollen and fungi species.
A significant positive correlation between total pollen and fungi counts and disease-specific questionnaires was found only for the RQLQ. Accordingly, a significant positive correlation was found between total pollen and fungi counts and T5SS (r = 0.655, p = 0.021), with breathing (r = 0.620, p = 0.032) and sneezing (r = 0.660, p = 0.020) being strongly affected. Moreover, a tendency toward a higher VAS score was found as total pollen and fungi counts increased (r = 0.523, p = 0.081).
We found a significant correlation between patients' symptoms and pollen and fungal air concentrations. Our results emphasize the clinical significance of pollen and fungi maps in everyday clinical practice.
目前，变应性鼻炎（AR）患者疾病严重程度与过敏原暴露之间的关系尚未完全阐明。我们旨在检测地中海地区空气中花粉和真菌浓度与症状评分之间的相关性。
共有98例AR患者在病情加重时使用5项症状总分（T（T5SS）和视觉模拟量表（VAS）对其症状进行评分。通过使用疾病特异性问卷（鼻结膜炎生活质量问卷（RQLQ）和迷你RQLQ）或通用问卷（简明健康状况调查量表（SF-36）和贝克抑郁量表（BDI））来评估患者的生活质量（QoL）。所有患者的回答均与空气生物学数据相关。采用皮肤点刺试验（SPT）检测对最常见的已登记花粉和真菌种类的敏感性。
仅在RQLQ中发现总花粉和真菌计数与疾病特异性问卷之间存在显著正相关。因此，发现总花粉和真菌计数与T5SS之间存在显著正相关（r = 0.655，p = 0.021），其中呼吸（r = 0.620，p = 0.032）和打喷嚏（r = 0.660，p = 0.020）受到的影响较大。此外，随着总花粉和真菌计数的增加，VAS评分有升高的趋势（r = 0.523，p = 0.081）。
我们发现患者症状与花粉和真菌空气浓度之间存在显著相关性。我们的结果强调了花粉和真菌分布图在日常临床实践中的临床意义。
