INVESTIGATING THE FREQUENCY OF ALLERGIC RHINITIS AMONG 6- TO 18-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN WITH CHRONIC RHINOSINUSITIS

Background & Aims: Rhinitis is a common condition in children and adults, divided into two categories: allergic and non-allergic.Sinusitis is one of the common diseases in childhood and adulthood.Sinusitis is divided into three categories: acute, subacute, and chronic.Considering the specific environmental and climatic conditions of Urmia, this study was conducted to investigate allergic rhinitis in children aged 6 to 18 years with chronic rhinosinusitis . Materials and Methods:In this descriptive-analytical study, all patients aged 6 to 18 years with chronic rhinosinusitis who had been referred to the allergy clinics of Urmia University of Medical Sciences between 2022 and 2023 were included.Demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients were collected using a checklist.Finally, the collected information was analyzed using SPSS version 20 after being entered into the software.Results: In this study, 205 children with chronic rhinosinusitis were included in the study (note: this repetition was retained as it mirrors the original, though it could be streamlined).Of these, 90 (43.9%) had allergic rhinitis.Of the 115 children with chronic rhinosinusitis without allergic rhinitis, 87 lived in the city and 28 lived in the countryside (P = 0.04).Additionally, the frequency distribution of having or not having allergic rhinitis was not the same across seasons (P = 0.02).Furthermore, the frequency distribution of having or not having allergic rhinitis was significant when compared to having or not having a family history (P = 0.0001).Moreover, having or not having allergic rhinitis was statistically related to having or not having contact with cigarette smoke (P = 0.005) . Conclusion:The highest percentage of individuals suffering from allergic rhinitis simultaneously with chronic rhinosinusitis were residents of the city, those who were referred in the cold seasons of the year, and those who were also patients in contact with cigarette smoke and who had a family history of allergic rhinitis .