Open AccessWorldwide prevalence of rhinitis in adults: A review of definitions and temporal evolution
Author(s) -
Savouré Marine,
Bousquet Jean,
Jaakkola Jouni J. K.,
Jaakkola Maritta S.,
Jacquemin Bénédicte,
Nadif Rachel
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
clinical and translational allergy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.979
H-Index - 37
ISSN - 2045-7022
DOI - 10.1002/clt2.12130
Subject(s) - medicine , nonallergic rhinitis , epidemiology , prevalence , population , scopus , medline , allergy , demography , pediatrics , environmental health , pathology , immunology , sociology , political science , law
Although rhinitis is among the most common diseases worldwide, rhinitis prevalence in the general adult population is unclear and definitions differ widely. Objective To summarize the literature on rhinitis prevalence in the general adult population and to assess: (1) the prevalence according to different rhinitis definitions overall and in different regions of the world, and (2) the evolution of rhinitis prevalence over time. Methods We conducted an extensive literature review of publications including rhinitis prevalence using Pubmed and Scopus databases up to October 2020. We classified the definitions into three categories: unspecified rhinitis, allergic rhinitis (AR), and nonallergic rhinitis (NAR). Results Among 5878 articles screened, 184 articles were included, presenting 156 different definitions of rhinitis. Rhinitis prevalence ranged from 1% to 63%. The overall median prevalences of unspecified rhinitis, AR and NAR were 29.4%, 18.1% and 12.0%, and they varied according to the geographical location. Rhinitis prevalence tended to increase over time. Conclusions This review highlights the great heterogeneity of the definitions. The majority of studies had focused on AR, while only a few epidemiological data exist on NAR. We found geographical variability in rhinitis prevalence. Most of studies reported an increase of rhinitis prevalence over the last decades.