Allergic rhinitis is a common disease with a lifetime prevalence of 20% among the United States population. The cost of medication alone to manage
allergic rhinitis in the United States was estimated to be $3.1 billion. The two most commonly prescribed classes of medications are
antihistamines and topical nasal
steroids. The data on comparing the efficacy of a commonly used
antihistamine (
azelastine hydrochloride) with that of topical
steroids, however, are conflicting. Therefore, the reported study was undertaken to determine the efficacy of
azelastine with that of a topical nasal
steroid (
flunisolide) in treating patients for the symptoms of
perennial allergic rhinitis. Forty-four subjects were enrolled in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study using Balaam's design. In one group, patients were treated with topical nasal
corticosteroids or placebo. In the other group, patients were treated with the
antihistamine nasal spray or placebo. Subjective data were collected by the use of questionnaires and a daily diary, which focused on nasal symptoms, sleep, and
daytime sleepiness. The results demonstrated that the topical nasal
corticosteroid performed superiorly to the
antihistamine nasal spray in improving sleep,
daytime sleepiness,
sneezing, ocular and nasal
pruritus, and nasal congestion. Thus, the topical nasal
corticosteroid was found to be more effective than
antihistamine nasal spray in reducing symptoms of
allergic rhinitis. This study provides further support for the use of topical nasal
corticosteroids as first-line treatment for
perennial allergic rhinitis.