Sixty patients with AR were randomly divided into 3 groups (according to random number table) and received 15 °C, 25 °C or 40 °C
normal saline nasal irrigation respectively, and 20 healthy controls received no treatment. Visual analogue scale ( VAS) was used to assess the symptoms among the control group and the various intervention groups and the
enzyme linked
immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was applied to detect the contents of
histamine,
leukotriene C4 (
LTC4), house dust mite D1 specific
IGE (sIGE) and
eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) among the control group and the various intervention groups. GraphPad Prism 5 software was used to analyze the data.
RESULTS: There was no statistical difference between 15 °C
normal saline nasal irrigation group and 25 °C
normal saline nasal irrigation group. Pre-intervention and post intervention whether is VAS scores of
rhinorrhea,
sneezing,
nasal obstruction and nasal
pruritis or in contents of
histamine,
LTC4, sIgE and ECP showed no difference (all P > 0.05). However, the symptoms of (
sneezing VAS score: 3.765 ± 0.291;
nasal obstruction VAS score: 3.529 ± 0.365). The difference was significant (t = 4.678, P < 0.001; t = 3.901, P < 0.01). The contents of
histamine [ (21.78 ± 0.62) ng/ml] and
LTC4 (17.43 ± 0.67 ng/ml) were also decreased after intervention of 40 °C
normal saline nasal irrigation [
histamine content: (18.82 ± 0.52) ng/ml;
LTC4 content: (13.14 ± 0.59) ng/ml ]. The difference was significant (t = 3.632, P < 0.01; t = 4.79, P < 0.001). Nonetheless, there were no statistical differences in VAS scores of
rhinorrhea (t = 2.02, P = 0.051) and nasal
pruritis (t = 1.984, P =0.056) and in contents of sIgE (t = 1.891, P = 0.066) and ECP (t = 2.021, P = 0.05). There were statistical differences between the 40 °C group and the 25 °C group
normal saline nasal irrigation group in symptoms of
sneezing (t = 2.060, P = 0.048) and
nasal obstruction (t = 2.1053, P = 0.048). and inflammatory factors of
histamine (t = 2.078, P = 0.045) and
LTC4 (t = 2.149, P = 0.038). In symptoms of
rhinorrhea and nasal
pruritis and local production of sIgE and ECP, there was no statistical difference (all P > 0.05).
CONCLUSION: