Severity and impairment of allergic rhinitis in patients consulting in primary care.

Background: Allergic rhinitis is a disease impairing quality of life, sleep, and work. A new classification for allergic rhinitis, Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA), has recently been proposed.
Objective: To study the effect of allergic rhinitis using ARIA definitions to determine severity and duration.
Methods: A total of 3052 patients consulting general practitioners for allergic rhinitis were studied. Patients were classified according to the 4 classes of ARIA. In all patients, quality of life (Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality-of-Life Questionnaire), sleep (Jenkins questionnaire), and work performance (Allergy-Specific Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire) were assessed.
Results: Mild intermittent rhinitis was diagnosed in 11% of the patients, mild persistent rhinitis in 8%, moderate/severe intermittent rhinitis in 35%, and moderate/severe persistent rhinitis in 46%. The severity of rhinitis has more of an effect on quality of life, sleep, daily activities, and work performance than the duration of rhinitis. In moderate/severe rhinitis, more than 80% of patients report impaired activities, as opposed to only 40% with mild rhinitis.
Conclusion: It seems that the term moderate/severe should be replaced by severe. A study in the general population is necessary, however, to assess the prevalence of the 4 ARIA classes of allergic rhinitis, especially in patients who are not consulting physicians for their symptoms.