Allergic rhinitis does not constitute a risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a condition characterized by rec urrent episodes of obstruction of the upper airway. The aim of this study w as to evaluate whether nasal obstruction due to allergic rhinitis constitut es a risk factor for OSAS. Patients (n = 119) presenting typical symptoms o f sleep apnea were tested for OSAS using polysomnography. Additionally all patients were tested in vivo and in vitro (including nasal eosinophilic cat ionic protein) for allergic rhinitis. Examination for allergic rhinitis rev ealed that 88.3% of all patients had no allergic rhinitis, whereas only 11. 7% were diagnosed as allergic. No significant differences in sleeping param eters were observed between allergic and non-allergic patients. Comparison of parameters indicative of relevant OSAS (apnea-hypopnea index [AHI] > 10) revealed that 60% of non-allergic patients had relevant OSAS, compared to only 50% of allergic patients. Investigation of allergic subgroups revealed similar results: no significant differences in sleeping parameters or elev ated rates of relevant OSAS parameters were observed, especially in perenni al allergic rhinitis due to house dust mites. No elevated rates of allergic rhinitis were observed in the studied cohort of patients suffering from sl eep apnea. or OSAS. Furthermore, no significant differences in sleeping beh avior or polysomnography parameters were found on comparing allergic and no n-allergic patients. In summary, our data rule out allergic rhinitis as a m ajor risk factor for OSAS.