This prospective randomized case controlled study was conducted to determine the efficacy of
antihistamine (
azelastine)
nasal spray and compare it to
steroid (
beclomethasone)
nasal spray on the symptoms of
allergic rhinitis. Seventy five symptomatic patients of
allergic rhinitis were included in this study. Diagnosis was made on the basis of history and physical examination. The patients were divided into three groups randomly. Group A was treated with
Azelastine nasal spray, Group B was treated with
Beclomethasone nasal spray and Group C was control group and only treated with
steam inhalation. Efficacy of the treatment was assessed in the terms of Total
Rhinitis Symptom Complex (
TSC) scores and individual symptom score which was calculated on the basis of Okuda's grading system. Base line total symptom complex (
TSC) scores were reduced in group A and group B by 84.0% after 4 week treatment whereas in group C it was reduced by only 38.0%. Decrease in mean score for
sneezing was 95.0% in group A and group B whereas it was only 28.3% in group C. Similarly decrease in mean score for rhinorrhoea in
azelastine group was 94.4% and in
beclomethasone group was 95.3% in comparison to
steam inhalation group where it was 25.0%. Only the
beclomethasone reduced nasal stuffiness score significantly by 95.0%. No significant adverse effects of the drugs were observed. The present study establishes the relative efficacy and tolerability ofazelastine
nasal spray as compared to
beclomethasone nasal spray in symptomatic patients of
allergic rhinitis.