Evaluation of quality of life in pediatric patients with allergic rhinitis

Objective-Patients Allergic rhinitis, which is quite common in childhood, is a cronic disease that affects quality of life negatively. Questionnaires have been developed to determine what extent the disease affects children 's quality of life. This study is aimed to observe the effects of the treatment in patients' quality of life, who have been diagnosed with allergic rhinitis and to investigate whether there are differences between subtypes of rhinitis quality of life measurements. Fort this purpose, in the range of 6 to12 years old, 120 patients, whom they vizited Bezmialem Vakıf University Faculty of Medicine Paediatric Allergy and Immunology Out-patient Clinic on months from December 2015 to January 2016, diagnosed with allergic rhinitis, were included in the study. Material - Methods " Pediatric Rhinitis Quality of Life Questionnaire ( PRQLQ ) " which is a special scale to assess the quality of life in allergic rhinitis, is used. PRQLQ form has been filled to patients before the initation of therapy and at the six weeks of treatment. Quality of life scores and the data obtained from the difference in these scores were analyzed using SPSS 20 software loaded on , along with other data, including the clinical and demographic characteristics. Results The study was completed by 120 patients , including 55 girls and 65 boys . The median age of the patients was 9 ( 6-12) have been found. Clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of patients such as socio-economic status, family history of atopy, smoking exposure, the presence of pets were evaluated. Statistically significant differences have been found both in subgroups of rhinits between the subscale scores and in all groups between before and after treatment scores. Conclusions In children, allergic rhinitis affects the quality of life according to the severity and frequency of symptoms. When the appropriate care as given, the quality of life after treatment gets better than the quality of life before treatment, regardles of the severity of the disease. Keywords: Allergic rhinitis, child, quality of life, treatment