Abstract:

The disorder with very common symptoms such as sneezing, itching, nasal congestion and rhinorrhea often remains undiagnosed in many individuals in the world. This is called as allergic rhinitis. According to WHO, this affects 10-30% of world population. Prevalence of allergic rhinitis is around 7.8% in USA, 5.9 % in France and 29% in United Kingdom (UK). However, in India no such study of prevalence was conducted in particular to study allergic rhinitis. Considering this fact, current study was aimed to determine disease perception and effect of allergic rhinitis on social behaviour in adult and elderly population in the areas of Mumbai metropolitan region in India using cross sectional survey methodology. Survey research of such type helps in gathering information not available from other sources. Disease perception and social behaviour assessments will help to understand psychosocial characteristics in population. Effect of allergic rhinitis on quality of life can also be investigated from this research. Questionnaire was designed and responses were collected by both online and offline modes. In total, 240 numbers of respondents agreed to participate. From the results, it was found that many respondents suffer from symptoms of sneezing, itching and nasal congestion which are cardinal symptoms of allergic rhinitis. From the results it was found that 66.67% of respondents have been diagnosed with allergic rhinitis from physician.

Keywords: allergic rhinitis, cross sectional survey, disease perception, social behaviour, India, clinical trials.

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