AR is a high-prevalence disease. The ARIA international document underlined that the prevalence of severe or refractory or overlapping rhinitis is increasing and represents a non-negligible socio-economic burden. In general, there are some other issues as well despite the social healthcare costs, allergic rhinitis remains underestimated, not sufficiently controlled, and often undertreated.
This was a multi-center Italian observational and prospective study. In this study, the researchers assessed the control of AR in patients who were above 16 years of age without previous asthma diagnosis, referred to the Allergy Centers.
The sample taken included patients of both sexes and older than 16 with rhinitis symptoms and without asthma were studied. A VAS and the CARAT were used as patient-reported outcomes. The possible causes of poor control of AR, as per protocol, were assessed accordingly.
The total number of patients that were observed was 250 patients in a real-life setting. More than 60% of them had an uncontrolled AR. 50% used multiple medications, and only a minority were receiving allergen immunotherapy.
The study confirmed through its findings that AR is overall poorly controlled. The VAS assessment well correlates with the structured CARAT questionnaire and with the relevant symptoms of AR.
Reference: https://clinicalmolecularallergy.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12948-018-0082-y
