The proportion of local allergic rhinitis to Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus in children.

BACKGROUND

Local allergic rhinitis (LAR) is diagnosed by the positive response to nasal allergen provocation test (NAPT) to aeroallergen and/or local synthesis of specific IgE (sIgE). This entity is found in half of the adults with non-allergic rhinitis (NAR). In children, very few data of the prevalence and characteristics of LAR were reported.

METHODS

Children 8-18 years with NAR were recruited. A NAPT with Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus extract (NAPT-Dp) at 200, 600, and 2000 AU/ml, respectively, at 15-min interval was performed. The immediate response was assessed using the clinical symptom score, peak nasal inspiratory flow (PNIF), and acoustic rhinometry (ARM). The nasal tryptase and sIgE-Dp were measured at baseline and 15 min and 1 h after a positive NAPT-Dp. Two allergic rhinitis (AR) patients were used as positive controls.

RESULTS

Fifty-four NAR children (61.1% boys) with the mean ± SD age of 11.1 ± 2.1 years were enrolled. The median duration of disease was 6.3 years. The most frequent comorbidity was asthma (38.9%). Eighty-seven percent of patients had mild persistent severity. NAPT-Dp was positive in 2/54 (3.7%) of NAR children who had increased symptom score and decreased minimal cross-sectional area (MCA) on ARM as well as PNIF. However, there was no change in the nasal tryptase and sIgE-Dp. The control AR patients had positive NAPT-Dp and increased nasal tryptase at 15 min without the change of sIgE-Dp.

CONCLUSION

LAR is an uncommon condition in children. Further investigation in a large population of children with NAR is needed.