NASAL PATENCY IN CHILDREN WITH ALLERGIC RHINITIS - CORRELATION OF OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE ASSESSMENTS

Background: Children with allergic rhinitis may have difficulty with s elf-assessment of nasal symptoms. Objective: To correlate objective an d subjective assessments of nasal stuffiness in children with seasonal allergic rhinitis. Methods: Children, aged 6 to 12 years, with season al allergic rhinitis recorded their degree of nasal obstruction on two separate occasions using a nasal stuffiness score and a visual analog ue scale. Physicians also assessed the degree of nasal obstruction usi ng a visual analogue scale. Anterior rhinometry was performed and sacc harin transient time was also measured. Correlations between subjectiv e scores and objective measurements were calculated using Spearman cor relation coefficients. Results: Patient's nasal stuffiness scores corr elated with their visual analogue assessment (r = .45, P = .0001). Pat ients visual analogue assessments did not correlate with anterior nasa l airflow (r = -.12, P > .05). Physicians' visual analogue assessment correlated better with nasal airflow than childrens' assessment (r = - .41, P = .0001). Saccharin transit time was not helpful in assessment of degree of nasal obstruction. Conclusion: Children appear to have di fficulty in self-assessment of nasal symptoms, and to be poor judges o f the presence or severity of nasal obstruction. In studies of allergi c rhinitis in children, objective measurements should be performed, if possible, to facilitate more accurate interpretation of data.