Perennial rhinitis. A common childhood complaint.

Symptoms of rhinitis in 595 children who attended an allergy clinic over a four-year period were examined to determine the relative frequencies of perennial rhinitis and seasonal rhinitis (hay fever). Perennial rhinitis was much more common than seasonal rhinitis at all ages, and only 12% of children with rhinitis had symptoms restricted to the grass pollen season. The detection of eosinophils in nasal smears from subjects with rhinitis was uncommon (10% of cases), while mast cells were found in one third of cases. Rhinitis was the most common symptom of atopic disease.