Allergic rhinitis

Allergic rhinitis is an allergic disease of the nose that is accompanied by symptoms such as an itchy, runny or blocked nose, sneezing and itchy eyes. As it is often caused by inhaling (grass) pollens, seasonal allergic rhinitis is commonly known as hay fever.

As a basic principle, a distinction is made between two types of allergic rhinitis (AR):

• With intermittent AR the symptoms occur on fewer than 4 days a week or for less than 4 weeks a year.
• Persistent AR is diagnosed when the person affected suffers from symptoms on more than 4 days a week and for more than 4 weeks a year.

It is also common to classify them as 'seasonal' (occurs during the period when the pollen is airborne) and 'perennial' (occurs all the year round) allergic rhinitis.

In Europe, currently up to 20% of the population are affected by allergic rhinitis. The trend is an upward one. Allergic rhinitis can be accompanied by a wide variety of accompanying and subsequent illnesses. For example, around 25% of the long-term allergy sufferers developed bronchitis or asthma over the course of their allergy ('allergic march' of the allergic symptoms). Allergic rhinitis is therefore now classified by the World Health Organization as a 'major chronic respiratory disease'. Today, doctors are aware that allergic rhinitis, depending on the severity of the symptoms, can also be accompanied by a considerably reduced quality of life. For it can result in sleep and concentration disorders and thus to substantially reduced productivity, which also has a social impact via its indirect costs. Consequently, doctors today also take the severity of the symptoms into account more when selecting the therapy.