Histamine levels and nasal cytology in children with chronic otitis media and rhinitis.

OBJECTIVE

Nasal and middle ear diseases are frequent health problems for young children. In some of these patients, allergic reactions may be contributing factors. The objective of this study was to determine whether the histamine level in nasal mucosal scrapings may be used as a marker for this subset of children.

METHODS

A total of 50 children, aged 2 through 7 years, was categorized into five groups of ten subjects as: normal, allergic rhinitis, nonallergic rhinitis, allergic with otitis media and nonallergic with otitis media by history, physical examination, allergy skin testing, nasal cytology, and tympanometry. Nasal mucosal scrapings were obtained using the Rhino-probe technique. Eosinophils, basophilic cells, neutrophils, and bacteria in nasal cytograms were quantified. Histamine levels were measured by radioimmunoassay, the values normalized to the total protein content assayed by enzyme-linked immunoassay, and expressed in pcg/micrograms of total protein.

RESULTS

The mean histamine level for each group was: normal = 0.20, allergic rhinitis = 10.14, nonallergic rhinitis = 0.13, allergic with otitis media = 5.34, nonallergic with otitis media = 0.24 pcg/micrograms of total protein. Mean levels of histamine were statistically significantly higher in the allergic groups than in the nonallergic and normal groups (P < .05). Allergic groups had significantly more eosinophils and basophilic cells in the nasal cytograms than the nonallergic groups. By contrast, the cytograms of children with nonallergic rhinitis and nonallergic otitis had significantly more neutrophils than the normal and allergic groups.

CONCLUSION

We conclude that measuring histamine in nasal mucosal scrapings could be useful in the evaluation of young children with rhinitis and otitis and in determining which patients may have allergic disease.