Table 1 Asthma and AR

Ciprandi et al. [16]

Prospective

89 (AR), 940 (controls)

Adults

Follow up of patients with AR every 2 years for 8 years to investigate spirometric abnormalities/BHR

34 of 89 AR patients developed BHR after 8 years

Sensitization to mite, birch and parietaria, as well as rhinitis duration are risk factors

Navarro et al. [17]

Epidemiologic prospective; multi centre

942 (with asthma)

Mean age: 35.5; 63% female

Investigate the link between the upper and lower airways

89.5% had AR

Correlation between severity of rhinitis and asthma (p < 0001) and inverse correlation with age (p < 0.0001) and severity of asthma (p < 0.05)

Ko et al. [18]

Cross sectional; questionnaire

600 (with asthma)

267 male; 333 female

Evaluation of prevalence of AR in asthma

77% of asthmatics had rhinitis in the past 12 months (of whom 96% were previously diagnosed with AR)

In patients with asthma and rhinitis, 49% use nasal steroids, resulting in fewer ED visits (13 vs 25%) and fewer hospitalizations for asthma (5 vs 13%)

Valero et al. [19]

Cross-sectional international population study; based on questionnaire

3225; 1 positive skin test

Age range: 10–50; 53% male

Evaluation of the link between AR, asthma and skin test sensitization

Asthma presents in 49% of AR patients

Asthma severity was associated with length of time from onset and with allergic rhinitis severity

Patients with asthma have a higher number of allergen sensitizations and higher sensitization intensity than those without asthma (p < 0.01)