Summary
A study found that nasal saline irrigation can improve asthma and allergic rhinitis symptoms in children, making it a beneficial treatment option.
Key points
- Nasal saline irrigation (NSI) may improve asthma and allergic rhinitis in children.
- Significant improvement in bronchial responsiveness (PC20) observed in the NSI group.
- Asthma Control Test (ACT) scores increased after 12 weeks of NSI.
- Quality of life scores for allergic rhinitis decreased in the NSI group.
- No significant changes in the control group.
Abstract
**Background: ** Asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR) are chronic inflammatory diseases of airway and affect the disease severity each other.
**Objective: ** We performed this study to examine whether nasal saline irrigation (NSI) improves bronchial hyperresponsiveness and clinical parameters in children with asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR).
**Methods: ** We enrolled 20 children with AR and asthma aged between 6-18 years. Patients were randomized into two groups: irrigation group (8 boys and 2 girls) and control group (8 boys and 2 girls). The irrigation group performed daily NSI. All patients received 12-week treatment with montelukast, levocetirizine, and inhaled glucocorticoids. Provocative concentrations of methacholine causing a 20% decrease in FEV1 (PC20), Asthma Control Test (ACT), the Questionnaire for Quality-of-Life Specific to Allergic Rhinitis in Korean Children (QQOL-ARK) and exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) were compared before and after the study.
**Results: ** The PC20 at week 12 was higher than baseline measurements in the irrigation group (P = 0.017), while there was no difference in PC20 before and after treatment in the control group (P = 0.333). ACT score increased after 12 weeks of NSI (P = 0.007), while QQOL-ARK score decreased compared to baseline scores (P = 0.028) in the irrigation group. No differences in ACT and QQOL-ARK were found between weeks 0 and 12 in the control group. No differences were found in the median value of changes in PC20, ACT, QQOL-ARK and FENO between the irrigation and control groups.
**Conclusions: ** Our results suggest that NSI is beneficial for treatment of asthma and AR in children.