Update - New approach to treatment for allergic rhinitis and asthma

VOL: 102, ISSUE: 20, PAGE NO: 41

Allergy UK and the General Practice Airways Group (GPIAG) have launched a new awareness campaign to highlight the one- airway approach to managing asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR).

Allergy UK and the General Practice Airways Group (GPIAG) have launched a new awareness campaign to highlight the one- airway approach to managing asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR).

Traditionally, these conditions have been treated separately: asthma as a condition of the lower airway and allergic rhinitis as a condition of the upper airway involving inflammation of the nasal passages.

However, there has been a growing recognition that there is a link between these two conditions, in that both are associated with inflammation of the airway and share common triggers such as pollen and house-dust mites.

Guidelines published by WHO in 1999 - Allergic Rhinitis and Its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) - supported the one-airway management approach.

This year, the International Primary Care Respiratory Group published guidelines that stress the epidemiological link between the two conditions and suggest that optimal treatment of AR may improve co-existing asthma.

A six-point asthma and AR status measure has been produced by Allergy UK and GPIAG to help healthcare professionals identify patients with existing asthma and AR. GPIAG has also published an opinion sheet that provides definitions of each condition and recommendations for diagnosis and treatment

Also visit www.allergyuk.org or www.gpiag.org

PrimaryCareRespiratory Journal (2006) 15: 1, 58-70.