Assessing outcomes from the sleep disturbance associated with rhinitis.

Purpose Of Review: The purpose of this review is to identify which aspects of allergic rhinitis limit the quality of life in patients, to present information on how rhinitis affects sleep, and to review instruments available to assess the impact that rhinitis has on sleep.

Recent Findings: Subjective and objective instruments reveal patients with allergic rhinitis frequently suffer from sleep-disordered breathing, poor sleep quality, daytime somnolence, and fatigue. Sleep disturbances associated with allergic rhinitis can lead to decreased cognitive and psychomotor abilities, impaired work performance, decreased productivity, impaired learning, difficulty concentrating, and memory deficits.

Fresh frozen plasma for the treatment of hereditary angioedema.

Background: Fresh frozen plasma (FFP) has been used as a treatment option for patients with hereditary angioedema (HAE) because it contains Cl esterase inhibitor, and alternate therapies are not yet available in the United States. However, because FFP also contains other substrates, it has been hypothesized to have the potential to worsen or precipitate an acute attack of HAE.

Objective: To research patient records and the medical literature to determine whether FFP can exacerbate symptoms or precipitate an attack of HAE.

Allergic rhinitis and its effect on sleep, fatigue, and daytime somnolence.

Objective: To examine the adverse effects of sleep impairment on the quality of life of patients with the disorder and how these effects can be treated with therapies targeted at the underlying problems that influence sleep.

Data Sources: Medline and Ovid search for sleep and rhinitis.

Study Selection: All literature on this topic were reviewed, and, if significant, were incorporated into this review.

Prevalence of elevated antithyroid antibodies and antinuclear antibodies in children with immune thrombocytopenic purpura.

The prevalence and significance of autoantibodies found at the time of diagnosis of childhood ITP were studied to correlate their presence with risk for development of chronic ITP. Children presenting with acute or chronic ITP to The James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children between July 1993 and September 1994 were tested at study entry and followed for the presence of antithyroid antibodies (ATA), antinuclear antibodies (ANA), Coombs' reactivity, and anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibodies. Grouped data were evaluated for significance using Fisher's exact t-test.