IMPACT OF NASAL GLUCOCORTICOIDS ON PULMONARY AND SMALL AIRWAY FUNCTION IN ATHLETES WITH ALLERGIC RHINITIS

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the clinical effect of nasal glucocorticoids on athletic patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) and its effect on lung function and small airway function. A total of 92 athletic patients with moderate to severe AR were enrolled in this study. According to the random number table method, the nasal glucocorticoid group (n=46) and loratadine group (n=46) were established. Patients in the nasal glucocorticoid group were treated with nasal inhalation of budesonide and oral loratadine, while athletic patients in the loratadine group were treated with nasal physiological seawater and oral loratadine. In our study, we observed and recorded the clinical symptom scores of two groups of athletic patients before and after treatment, compared two groups before and after treatment in athletic patients with pulmonary function and small airway function index and nose - conjunctivitis changes related to the quality-of-life questionnaire (RQLQ) score, the Pearson correlation coefficient analysis AR athletic patient’s clinical symptoms and life quality of the correlation. We obtained the following results. After treatment, the clinical symptom related scores of the two groups were significantly decreased, and the scores of the nasal glucocorticoid group decreased significantly than the loratadine group (all P<0.05). After treatment, the pulmonary function and small airway function indexes, including maximum mid-expiratory flow, instant expiratory flow at 50% vital capacity, and instant expiratory flow at 25% vital capacity were increased significantly in the two groups than before treatment, and the values of each index in nasal glucocorticoid group increased significantly than those in loratadine group after treatment (all P<0.05). Pearson correlation coefficient analysis showed that the clinical symptoms of AR athletic patients were positively correlated with their quality of life (P<0.05). Based on the analysis of the above research results, we believe that nasal glucocorticoids can improve the pulmonary function and small airway function of AR patients, reduce the clinical adverse symptoms of athletic patients, improve the quality of life of athletic patients, and have positive significance in preventing the development of asthma in patients.