Fast Facts - Rhinitis (Electronic book text)

"Allergic diseases have been described as a modern epidemic, with over 20% of the total population suffering form allergic rhinitis, asthma or atopic eczema. Of these diseases, allergic rhinitis is the most common and the most underdiagnosed and mistreated. The effects of the symptoms of rhinitis, allergic or otherwise, on quality of life, particularly through sleep disturbance, are beginning to be appreciated. The long-term effects of poor school and examination performance are beginning to be investigated. The comorbordity of allergic rhinitis with asthma the one airway hypothesis is generally accepted, but other relevant comorbidities involving the eyes, throat, ears and voice are still being elucidated. Studies suggest that accurate diagnosis of rhinitis and effective treatment can reduce other chest and ear, nose and throat problems.
Severely affected individuals are treated by specialists in allergy, lung medicine, pediatrics, otorhinolaryngology and dermatology. The majority of people, however, are seen by generalists or specialists in other fields. This practically oriented text on rhinitis, includes not only allergic but other forms of rhinitis plus acute and chonric rhinosinusitis, nasal polyposis and comorbidities such as asthma, adenoid hypertrophy and otitis media with effusion, for these practitioners. "