WEDNESDAY, Sept. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Allergic rhinitis hinders the quality of sleep, and patients with more severe forms of rhinitis have more sleep disturbances than those with milder forms, researchers report in the Sept. 18 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Damien Leger, M.D., of Assistance Publique Hopitaux de Paris in France, and colleagues studied sleep patterns and allergic rhinitis in 591 patients being treated by 260 allergy and ear, nose and throat specialists across France. The patients had the condition for at least a year.
The researchers found that allergic rhinitis interferes with all aspects of sleep. Patients with severe allergic rhinitis had more sleep problems than patients with mild allergic rhinitis. Sleep was equally affected, whether allergic rhinitis was intermittent or persistent.
"These data underline the close relationship between allergic rhinitis and sleep and highlight the need for clinicians, particularly general practitioners, to be attentive in this respect," the authors conclude.
Abstract
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