Spring is a period of high incidence of allergic rhinitis. Industry experts said that the number of allergic rhinitis patients in the mainland is as high as 240 million, of which children are the "hardest hit group".
Why is the incidence of allergic rhinitis so high? How can we make everyone less "nose troubles"?
The incidence is high and the age is obvious
Wu Bi, a fourth-grade primary school girl in Guangzhou, often has an itchy nose, nasal congestion, and sneezing. Her mother, Ms. Fang, said her daughter developed allergic rhinitis around the time she was in elementary school, sneezing and running nose as soon as she blew air conditioning, got cold or got in a dry environment.
"Our family is suffering from allergic rhinitis, and in addition to Wu Bi, my other two children also have symptoms of allergic rhinitis to varying degrees." Ms. Fang said helplessly.
Allergic rhinitis is a common chronic rhinopathy in the clinic. Zhang Luo, president of Beijing Tongren Hospital, said that there are as many as 240 million people with allergic rhinitis in China. According to the "Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Allergic Rhinitis in China" completed by Zhang Luo and others, from 2005 to 2011, the prevalence of allergic rhinitis in mainland China increased from 11.1% to 17.6%, and the number of patients increased by about 100 million.
Children are the "hardest hit group" of allergic rhinitis. Ruan Yan, director of the Department of Otolaryngology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, introduced that allergic rhinitis patients are the most patients in his department. Allergic rhinitis is not only high in incidence, but also shows a trend of younger age. The vast majority of the patients he personally attended were children.
Ruan Yan et al.'s "Integrative Treatment of Allergic Rhinitis" mentions a set of data: mainland experts used multi-order sampling methods to conduct epidemiological surveys of allergic rhinitis in children in Beijing, Chongqing and Guangzhou, and found that the prevalence was 14.46%, 20.42% and 7.83% respectively.
Another survey of preschoolers in Urumqi showed that the prevalence of allergic rhinitis was 17.8% to 25.4%, and it was proportional to the increase in age.
Why is it difficult to treat the high incidence?
Why is the prevalence of allergic rhinitis increasing?
Industry experts believe that with the development of industrialization, the causative factors of allergic rhinitis are increasing.
The results of the questionnaire survey showed that in Guangdong Province, the prevalence of self-reported allergic rhinitis among children aged 7 to 12 years in Guangzhou was 23.2%, which was significantly higher than that of Shaoguan in northern Guangdong Province. Similarly, a questionnaire survey of children aged 3 to 7 in Shanghai showed that the prevalence of seasonal allergic rhinitis in urban children was also higher than that in suburban children.
Mites, pollen, and pets are the most common allergens for allergic rhinitis. Nguyen Yan said that for residents living in the southern part of the mainland, their main allergen is mites, which is related to the spread of house dust mites in the southern climate of high temperature, high humidity and rain. The allergens of northern residents are mainly cypress pollen, artemisia pollen and so on.
On the other hand, people interact less with the environment, resulting in different responses of the human immune system to environmental allergens.
Li Jian, chief physician of the Department of Otolaryngology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, said that the human immune system is a process of gradual development and training. "People have less and less contact with the natural environment from infancy and infancy, resulting in a decline in the types of microorganisms that come into contact with our respiratory tract, digestive tract, etc., the immune system's response to allergens in some environments is different from before, and the incidence of allergic diseases is increasing."
Many patients said that allergic rhinitis, although treated, still recurred many times. Why is allergic rhinitis difficult to cure? Experts say that as an immune disease, there are many pathogenic mechanisms of allergic rhinitis that have not been clarified.
Ruan Yan said that the epidemiological and etiological research of allergic rhinitis has become increasingly rich, and many risk factors have been found to be prone to allergic rhinitis, including genetic mechanisms, air pollution, pollen season, early antibiotic use, indoor allergen exposure, etc., but the correlation between its severity and etiology has not been clear.
Multi-pronged prevention
Experts say that although allergic rhinitis does not pose a serious life and health threat to patients, it will reduce their quality of life. In addition, if allergic rhinitis is not controlled, 20% to 40% of people with allergic rhinitis may develop asthma at some point in their lives.
In view of the high incidence of allergic rhinitis and the obvious characteristics of young age, the experts interviewed recommended that epidemiological investigations be carried out to carry out targeted prevention and clinical treatment.
Li Jian believes that for patients, drugs are the preferred measure to control the symptoms of allergic rhinitis, which can alleviate symptoms, prolong intermittent periods, and reduce recurrent attacks. However, doctors also remind that some medical institutions have proposed to cure allergic rhinitis, or use some other folk remedies to give treatment, not only may not be able to cure allergic rhinitis, but may bring irreversible harm, patients need to go to regular medical institutions for medical treatment and follow the doctor's advice.
"Patients often ask if they can cure allergic rhinitis, or if there are specific drugs for allergic rhinitis." Ruan Yan said that according to the existing technical means, allergic rhinitis is indeed difficult to cure, and there is no so-called special drug; but after formal and standardized comprehensive treatment, the best symptom control can be achieved and the quality of life of patients can be significantly improved.
In addition, industry experts believe that greening work also needs to fully consider the factors of allergic rhinitis. Studies have shown that the number of various inflammatory cells has increased during the pollen transmission season, and pollen allergies and allergic rhinitis have shown a positive correlation. When planning and planting greening tree species and flower species, all localities should do a good job in scientific demonstration to reduce the increase in environmental allergens brought about by greening. (Reporters Ma Xiaocheng and Xu Hongyi)