Prevalence of allergic rhinitis and its impact on the use of emergency care services in a group of children and adolescents with moderate to severe persistent asthma Prevalência da rinite alérgica e seu impacto na utilização dos serviços de pronto-atendimento em um grupo de crianças e adolescentes com asma persistente moderada e grave

AbstractObjective: To assess the prevalence of allergic rhinitis and thefactors associated with the use of emergency care services bychildren and adolescents with acute asthma submitted to inhaledcorticosteroid therapy. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 126patients treated with beclomethasone dipropionate for 3 years. Thefactors associated with emergency care services in the third year ofbeclomethasonedipropionatetreatmentwereassessedusinglogisticregression models. Results: The prevalence of allergic rhinitis amounted to 74.6%(95%CI 65.9-81.7). The presence of allergic rhinitis (OR = 2.98,95%CI 1.10-8.06) and asthma severity (OR = 2.09, 95%CI 1.05-4.44) were independent factors for emergency care services. Conclusion: Theprevalenceofallergicrhinitiswashighandthat,combinedwithasthmaseverity,constitutedthemajorriskfactorforthe necessity of emergency care services. Health professionalsshould attempt to make an early diagnosis of allergic rhinitis inasthmatic patients. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2007;83(6):555-561: