Meeting abstract
Pregnancy - induced rhinitis (PIR): neglected disease
Tomislav Baudoin
; University hospital center Sestre milosrdnice, Department of otorhinolaryngology and head and neck surgery
Tena Šimunjak
; University hospital Sveti Duh, Department of otorhinolaringology and head and neck surgery
Abstract
Introduction: Pregnancy-induced rhinitis (PIR) is a widely present disease that manifests itself during
pregnancy with complete resolution of symptoms after delivery.
Aim: In the ambidirectional longitudinal cohort study, the prevalence of PIR is evaluated as well as
the appearance and character of its symptoms, and its impact on the quality of life.
Methods: Six hundred eighty-one (681) women completed questionnaires about nasal symptoms a day
after delivery and each woman with nasal symptoms was interviewed 30 days later and data on symptom
duration and quality were recorded.
Results: The prevalence of PIR was 31.86% (N=217), 47.14% (N=21) women had no nasal symptoms
and 21% (N=143) of participants had prior sinonasal disease. The clinical presentation of pregnancy rhinitis
included nasal obstruction as the most common symptom, followed by rhinorrhea, postnasal secretion, nose
itching, sneezing, and hyposmia. The median duration of PIR was 4 months with their complete resolution of
symptoms between the 2nd and 16th day after delivery in the majority of respondents. PIR was diagnosed
significantly more often if the women carried a female child. PIR affected the quality of life during pregnancy
in 53.9% women (N=117), with an average VAS score of 8. It seems that pregnancy may affect the course of
previously present sinonasal disease (allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, nonallergic rhinitis, or noninfectious rhinitis prior to the pregnancy).
Conclusion: PIR is a common clinical entity but still neglected and insufficiently researched. We
propose a definition of PIR. PIR is a non-allergic, non-infectious symptomatic inflammation of the nasal
mucosa caused by a hormonal imbalance during pregnancy, lasting 6 or more weeks and resolving
spontaneously within 4 weeks post-delivery, caracterized with the presence of at least one nasal symptom
(nasal obstruction, but also rhinorrheoea, nose itching, sneezing and/or hyposmia).
Keywords
pregnancy; rhinitis, quality of life
Hrčak ID:
272860
URI
Publication date:
27.2.2022.
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