OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship between the different types of allergic rhinitis and anxiety.

METHODSState-trait anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, STAI) was adopted to 98 cases, moderate to severe persistent allergic rhinitis (PAR, male 43 cases, female 55 cases ) and 165 cases of moderate to severe intermittent allergic rhinitis (IAR, male 89 cases, female 76 cases ) and compared with the Chinese standard norm.SPSS 15.0 software was used to analyze the data.

RESULTSThere was no significant difference in state anxiety (S-AI) and trait anxiety (T-AI) score (P(PAR): 0.411,0.724; P(IAR): 0.400,0.061) between male patients with allergic rhinitis (PAR and IAR) and the 1998 Chinese male norm. There was no significant difference (P(PAR): 0.503, P(IAR): 0.789) between female AR patients and normal in T-AI. The S-AI score was significantly higher in female AR patients than that in Chinese women norm scores (P(PAR) = 0.007, P(IAR) = 0.004). PAR and IAR showed no significant difference on T-AI and S-AI. (P value was 0.748 and 0.967).

CONCLUSIONSFemale patients with allergic rhinitis can cause anxiety and continued, but there is no obvious anxiety potential in T-AI. The male patients do not show significantly different from normal people in terms of state and trait anxiety. And then, different types of allergic rhinitis have no significant correlation with anxiety.