The effect of blood homocysteine levels in the allergic rhinitis patients.

Background: The aim of the study is determination of blood homocysteine levels in patients with allergic rhinitis.Methods: This prospective study was conducted between September and October 2009 at Düzce University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Otolaryngology on a total of 40 cases between the ages of 18?45; of whom 20 patients were diagnosed as allergic rhinitis and 20 as healthy control group. Peripheral blood samples were taken from patients with a diagnosis of allergic rhinitis which was based on history, physical examination, and prick test and from the healthy control group in order to determine the blood homocysteine level. Each group was further divided into two groups depending on the presence or absence of nasal pathologies. For statistical analysis, analysis of variance and Chi-square were used.Results: 27 cases (67,5 %) were female and 13 cases (32,5 %) were men. Of the 20 cases, allergic rhinitis were present in 13 patients (65 %) year-round and in 7 patients (35 %) as seasonal rhinitis. Skin prick test was positive in 11 patients (55 %). Factor Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and Dermatophagoides farinae were detected as the most frequent causative agent (66,7 %) in the skin pin prick test positive patients. No statistically significant difference was detected between cases and control groups regarding the blood homocysteine levels (chi-square 102,3; P> 0.05). No statistically significant difference was detected between seasonal allergic rhinitis and perennial allergic rhinitis patients regarding the blood homocysteine levels (chi-square 25,8; P> 0.05).Conclusion: Allergic rhinitis is an important clinical problem because of its high prevalance in tthe population, lower remission rates (10?23 %) despite of therapy, and its association with asthma (38 %). In addition, epidemiological studies showed that high total homocysteine concentration in the blood was an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. In our study, no statistically significant results were found between patients with allergic rhinitis and healthy people regarding their blood homocysteine levels.Keywords: Allergic rhinitis, homocysteine, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and Dermatophagoides farinae