Evaluation of the psychological status in seasonal allergic rhinitis patients.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the psychological status of Chinese adults with seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) in the allergic season, and evaluate the effects of nasal symptoms on their psychological status.

METHODS

The Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) or Self-Reporting Inventory was employed to analyze the psychological status of 337 SAR patients.

RESULTS

The SCL-90 scores of the SAR patients were statistically higher than those of nonallergic adults in terms of somatization, depression, anxiety, hostility and psychosis. No statistical discrepancies existed in gender or age, the impact of disease course was limited to somatization, compulsion and phobic disorders and the impact of the educational level was that the lower the level of education, the more obvious the hostility. The behavior of somatization, compulsion, depression and anxiety in patients with a history of eczema or asthma was much more obvious than in patients without such a history. Nasal obstruction had a conspicuous impact on somatization, compulsion, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety and psychosis, while nasal itching contributed to somatization, depression and anxiety.

CONCLUSION

The psychological status of SAR patients is evidently worse than that of nonallergic adults. Symptoms such as nasal obstruction and nasal itching had an obvious impact on the psychological status of the patients.