The survey was conducted among 8,000 general practitioners and pulmonologists, who distributed screening questionnaires for allergic rhinitis in their waiting rooms, from June to September 2009. The purpose of the questionnaire was to screen for allergic rhinitis in asthma patients.
12,617 patients completed these questionnaires in the end. The association between asthma and allergic rhinitis would be very frequent, because these two diseases concern the same respiratory system: top, the nose, for allergic rhinitis, bottom, the lungs and the bronchi, for asthma.
The inflammatory process would be comparable for the two pathologies. The risks of triggering an asthma attack or allergic rhinitis can come from pollens, but also from other allergens in the environment. These asthma or allergic rhinitis attacks can therefore occur all year round.
More than 5 million French people have suffered from asthma at some point in their lives, according to this press release. In France, asthma would cause more than 1,000 deaths per year, and 600,000 days of hospitalization per year.
