Abstract
Using a portable peak flow meter, we measured nasal peak expiratory flow (PEF) in subjects with Japanese cedar pollen allergy for continual 12 hours. The nasal PEF was assessed before and after chal-lenging the antigen during the non-pollen season. Subjective nasal obstruction, nasal discharge, and sneezing were also examined.
The variations of nasal PEF in a day were larger after challenging the antigen than before challenging (p <0.05). Nasal symptoms also became worse after challenging (sneezing : p <0.05).
The subjects under hyposensitization showed less variation of nasal blockage index, and had a shorter period to reach the subjective peak of nasal obstruction than those who were not under hyposensitization (p <0.05). This suggested that hyposensitization to cedar pollen mainly regulates the late-phase reaction rather than the early-phase reaction in nasal allergy.
Concerning the assessment of subjective nasal obstruction together with nasal PEF, use of three grades, i.e., not obstructed, a little obstructed, and impossible to breathe through the nose, may be proper.
