Treatment of chronic rhinitis by an allergy specialist improves quality oflife outcomes

Background: Allergic rhinitis is associated with significant impairment in quality of life and therefore has a significant impact on the indirect heal th care costs associated with treatment of chronic rhinitis in the United S tates. It has been stated that early intervention in the treatment of chron ic rhinitis by an allergy specialist improves health outcomes but few unbia sed studies have been conducted to substantiate this claim. Objective: This study measured quality of Life outcomes in the treatment of chronic rhinitis by an allergy specialist. Methods: Quality of life changes were assessed using the Rhinoconjunctiviti s Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ) and the "Short-Form" 36-item questio nnaire (SF-36) in patients before and after treatment of chronic rhinitis s ymptoms by a board-certified allergist. Patients with chronic rhinitis were asked by a 3rd year medical student to complete these questionnaires prior to any contact with the allergist. Treatment by the allergist included cou nseling on avoidance measures when appropriate and a new medication regimen . Patients were contacted by the 3rd year medical student 3 to 5 months lat er to complete follow-up RQLQ and SF-36 surveys. All data analysis was cond ucted independently by the 3rd year medical student. Results: Complete sets of pre-treatment and post-treatment surveys were obt ained from 19 patients. Perennial allergic rhinitis was diagnosed for 13 pa tients, perennial allergic rhinitis with a seasonal component was diagnosed for three patients, vasomotor rhinitis was diagnosed for two patients and mixed allergic and non-allergic rhinitis was diagnosed for one patient. Sta tistically significant improvement was observed in four of the nine health concepts measured by the SF-36 questionnaire. Significant changes above the minimal important difference (MID) were observed post-treatment in six of eight RQLQ dimensions. Conclusions: This study indicates that intervention by a board-certified al lergist significantly improves many areas of health-related quality of life . Further studies comparing health care outcomes and costs of treating chro nic rhinitis by primary care physicians to early intervention by allergy sp ecialists are warranted.