The effects of allergic rhinitis on growth, development and body mass indexes in school children.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the frequency of allergic rhinitis (AR) in children and investigate if allergenic rhinitis demonstrated any effects on developmental growth levels and body mass indexes (BMI) in children.

Materials And Methods: 651 students, between 3-15 years of age who were randomly selected from four elementary schools located at Kartal, Istanbul were assessed according to symptoms and the presence of AR by nasal examination with the aid of a 0 degree 2.7 mm hand rigid endoscope. Height and weight percentile values of students regarding growth according to age and their BMI were calculated and statically assessed. Results obtained are presented.

Results: Findings obtained from a questionnaire and clinical examination does not allow us to perform a definite differentiation regarding in school children at age 3-5. The prevalence of AR in girls is higher. However, there are no any significant differences regarding BMIs in children with or without AR (p < 0,142). But there are statistically significant differences regarding height and weight percentiles in children with and without AR. Accordingly, there was a tendency in children diagnosed with AR to display low values related with height and weight percentiles. In Pearson chi-square testing, p values of percentile values related with weight (p < 0,032) and p values of percentiles related with height (p < 0,001) were determined.

Conclusion: AR prevalence was higher in girls independently from BMI values. We determined a strong relationship between BMI values and AR dependant to age and gender.