Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Feb 12;14(2):e0211547.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211547. eCollection 2019.

Acute rhinosinusitis among pediatric patients with allergic rhinitis: A nationwide, population-based cohort study

Shi-Wei Lin  1 , Sheng-Kai Wang  1 , Ming-Chi Lu  2   3 , Chun-Lung Wang  1   3 , Malcolm Koo  4   5
Affiliations

Acute rhinosinusitis among pediatric patients with allergic rhinitis: A nationwide, population-based cohort study

Shi-Wei Lin et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: While chronic rhinosinusitis is a common complication of allergic rhinitis, the link between acute rhinosinusitis and allergic rhinitis is unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk of incident acute rhinosinusitis among pediatric patients with allergic rhinitis, using a nationwide, population-based health claims research database.

Methods: Newly diagnosed allergic rhinitis patients aged 5-18 years were identified from the health claim records of the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000 of Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. A comparison cohort was assembled by randomly selecting patients from the same database with frequency matching by sex, age group, and index year. All patients were followed until a diagnosis of acute rhinosinusitis or the end of the follow-up period. Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess the association between allergic rhinitis and acute rhinosinusitis.

Results: Of the 43,588 pediatric patients included in this study, 55.4% were male and 43.9% were between the ages of 5.0-7.9 years. The risk of acute rhinosinusitis was significantly higher in pediatric patients with allergic rhinitis compared to those without the condition (adjusted hazard ratio = 3.03, 95% confidence interval = 2.89-3.18). Similar hazard ratios were observed between male and female pediatric patients.

Conclusions: This secondary cohort study using a nationwide, population-based health claim data of the Taiwan's NHIRD showed that allergic rhinitis was significantly associated with a higher risk of acute rhinosinusitis among pediatric patients.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Study flowchart.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Kaplan-Meier plot of cumulative hazard over time for pediatric patients with or without allergic rhinitis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kirtsreesakul V, Naclerio RM. Role of allergy in rhinosinusitis. Curr Opin Allergy Clin Immunol. 2004;4(1):17–23. . - PubMed
    1. Dykewicz MS, Hamilos DL. Rhinitis and sinusitis. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010;125(Suppl 2):S103–15. 10.1016/j.jaci.2009.12.989 . - DOI - PubMed
    1. Foden N, Burgess C, Shepherd K, Almeyda R. A guide to the management of acute rhinosinusitis in primary care: management strategy based on best evidence and recent European guidelines. Br J Gen Pract. 2013;63(616):611–3. 10.3399/bjgp13X674620 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ahmad N, Zacharek MA. Allergic rhinitis and rhinosinusitis. Otolaryngol Clin North Am. 2008;41(2):267–81. 10.1016/j.otc.2007.11.010 . - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kronemer KA, McAlister WH. Sinusitis and its imaging in the pediatric population. Pediatr Radiol. 1997;27(11):837–46. 10.1007/s002470050251 . - DOI - PubMed