The Prevalence of Allergic Rhinitis and It s Relationship With SecondHand Tobacco Smoke Among Adults in Iran

To determine the prevalence of allergic rhinitis (AR) among adult residents and investigate whether second-hand tobacco smoke (SHS) is correlated with AR as one of the global health problems and one of the most common respiratory disorders reducing the quality of life. A telephone interview survey was conducted by calling 16500 randomly selected telephone numbers from 22 regional telecommunications of Tehran (capital city of Iran) in 2010. A modified European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) questionnaire was completed for adults aged between 20 to 44-year-old. Two questions about active smoking and being exposed to SHS were added to the questionnaire. five thousands five hundred cases (76.92%) responded to our calls among 7150 eligible telephone numbers. The gender of study population included 3412 female (62%) and 2088 male (38%) with the mean±SD age of 31.15±7.33. The prevalence of AR was 26.7%. There were no significant relationship between active smoking and AR; while a significant relationship was detected between SHS and AR among our participants (P=0.02). However, no significant difference was found between men and women. In addition, more than 50% of adults suffering from AR, showed significant symptoms of asthma (P 0.001). The results of the current study revealed that the prevalence of AR was higher in Iran compared to other countries worldwide and SHS may be considered as a serious risk factor for AR.