OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical symptom, precipitating factor, associated symptom, family history and life quality of pediatric patients with allergic rhinitis, and to analyze the characteristic of clinical symptoms.

METHODSA questionnaire survey on pediatric AR patients since June 2008 to June 2010, one hundred and forty-eight pediatric AR patients were divided into 2 groups, group A (n = 43) included children aged from 3.2 to 6.0, group B (n = 105) included children aged from 6.1 to 14.8. The severity degree of clinical symptom was assessed by visual analogue scale.

RESULTSPreschool age children had more severe rhinocleisis, more severe cough and less rhinorrhea than school age children (χ(2) value were 29.194, 12.277 and 16.904, respectively, P < 0.05). According to the classification criteria of ARIA 2008, preschool children had more mild intermittent AR and less moderate-severe persistent AR than school age children (χ(2) value were 20.370 and 24.546, P < 0.05). The precipitating factor of common cold, fitment, climate, environment factors were 22.3% (33/148), 5.4% (8/148), 16.2% (24/148), 3.4% (5/148), the others was 4.7% (7/148), no obvious precipitating factor was 48.0% (71/148). The rate of parent or parents who had allergic disease history was 11.5% (17/148). Quality of sleep that 66.2% (98/148) were upset and 62.2% (92/148) had no cathexis.

CONCLUSIONSThe preschool children have different clinical symptom characteristic from the school age children, and we got some clinical data of pediatric AR patients, those were beneficial to the diagnose and therapy of pediatric AR. The clinical data obtained in this study from pediatric AR patients are beneficial to the diagnosis and therapy of pediatric AR.