Autonomic dysfunction and clinical severity of disease in children with allergic rhinitis

作者：Emin Ozkaya^*; Esra Gursoy; Ufuk Erenberk; Demiri Aysegul; Ayhan Sogut; Rusen Dundaroz M

来源：International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, 2012, 76(8): 1196-1200.

DOI：10.1016/j.ijporl.2012.05.005

• Autonomic nervous system
• Children
• RRIV
• Sympathetic skin response
• Allergic rhinitis

Objectives: The involvement of autonomic imbalance has been reported in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases.
Purpose: To investigate the association between the clinical severity of childhood allergic rhinitis and autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction, to define whether the severity of disease correlates with ANS activity.
Methods: In this cross-sectional, case-control study, we evaluated the ANS testing by measuring sympathetic skin response (SRR) and heart rate (R-R) interval variation (RRIV) in 55 children with perennial allergic rhinitis (PAR), aged 7-12 yrs without any chronic co-morbidity, and the results were compared with 40 sex- and age-matched control subjects. The patients were divided into two groups according to the severity of allergic rhinitis.
Results: There were significant increase in calculated RRIV variables during at rest and deep breathing in children with PAR compared to controls, which reflect parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity (p < 0.005). The mean amplitude of SSR in patients, which reflect sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity was smaller compared with the controls, but this difference was not significant (0.61 +/- 0.35 mu V vs controls 0.94 +/- 0.46, p > 0.05). Lower RRIV and the prolonged SSR latencies in children with AR were closely correlated with disease severity (r = -0.65, p < 0.05, and r = -0.59, p < 0.05 respectively).
Conclusion: Combined use of these two tests, allows separate testing of PNS and SNS function, and are very sensitive methods in assessing of severity of disease in children with PAR.

• 出版日期2012-8