Comparison of upper and lower respiratory tract inflammatory markers in allergic children monosensitized to house dust mites

Aim: Allergic rhinitis and asthma due to mite sensitization are diseases which frequently associated and characterized by persistent inflammation. In this study, to evaluate of severity of rhinitis symptoms, quality of life and visual analog scores related to rhinitis, and to investigate the relationship between nasal airflows and nasal eosinophils obtained by nasal scraping were aimed.Material and Methods: Thirteen children with only rhinitis (Group I) and twenty-four children with both rhinitis and asthma (Group II) were evaluated prospectively. All of them had moderate-severe grade of nasal obstruction. Total nasal symptom scores, quality of life and visual analog scores related to rhinitis, nasal inspiratory airflows obtained by anterior rhinomanometry, skin prick tests, mite -specific IgE levels, blood eosinophils and percentage of nasal eosinophils were all assessed.Results: There was no statistically significant difference between groups in terms of age and gender. The symptom scores related to rhinitis of patients in Group II were higher than those of Group I (p=0,046). The quality of life scores were significantly correlated with visual analog scores of rhinitis in all patients (r=0,699, p<0,001). There was found statistically significant and an inverse correlation between percentages of nasal eosinophils and nasal airflows (r=-0,343, p=0,03). Blood eosinophil counts were significantly correlated with both percentages of nasal eosinophils (r=0,458, p=0,004) and total nasal inspiratory flows (r=-0,398, p=0,01).Conclusion: In this study, a close relationship was demonstrated between eosinophil infiltration and nasal airflows in children with persistent asthma and/or rhinitis monosensitized mites. Thus, nasal eosinophils can be regarded as the most important predictor of upper airway function.