[Study on the diagnosis of idiopathic rhinitis by cold dry air provocation].

Objective

This study aimed to compare the nasal response of cold dry air（CDA） provocation in patients with idiopathic rhinitis（IR） and healthy individuals, and further assess its ability in diagnosing IR. Method:CDA provocation was performed among 15 healthy volunteers and 17 IR patients from Beijing Tongren Hospital Outpatient Department. Nasal symptom scores, total nasal volume（TNV）, total nasal resistance（TNR） and minimal cross-sectional area（MCA） were checked before and after the provocation. Logistic regression analysis and Receiver Operating Characteristic（ROC） curves were used in data evaluation. Result:Subjects in the IR group showed significantly larger changes after CDA provocation in total nasal symptom score（TNSS）, total nasal resistance（TNR）, minimal cross-sectional area（MCA） and total nasal volume（TNV）, compared with healthy volunteers. We built a predictive model for IR, Y=0.394×ΔTNSS-0.061 ×ΔTNV（%）+0.014×ΔTNV（%） -2.318, whose area under curve was 0.919 based on multi-factor logistic regression and ROC curve. According to the Youden index, the cut-off criteria was set to be Y >0.49, when its sensitivity and specificity were 82.4% and 84.6%, respectively.

Conclusion

Aggravated nasal symptoms and decreased nasal ventilation could be seen after CDA provocation in the IR population. The CDA provocation provides a possible method for assisting the diagnosis of IR, and we'll expand the sample size in future research to verify its clinical application value.