BACKGROUND: Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases among school-aged children in the United States. Environmental respiratory irritants exacerbate asthma among children. Understanding the impact of a variety of known and biologically plausible environmental irritants and triggers among children in New Jersey - ozone, fine particulate matter (PM2.5), tree pollen, weed pollen, grass pollen and ragweed - would allow for informed public health interventions.

METHODS: ...

The Joint Task Force for the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology was charged with formulating a position paper regarding the potential release of intranasal corticosteroids for over-the-counter use. We took the position that safety issues regarding this proposal would be our sole concern. We reviewed the literature to evaluate the frequency and severity of potential adverse events related to the administration of ...

BACKGROUND: Allergic rhinitis (AR) is more appropriately termed allergic rhinoconjunctivitis owing to the equally bothersome nasal and ocular symptoms. Extensive evidence supports the ability of intranasal corticosteroids to reduce nasal symptoms of AR, although less evidence is available to define clearly their impact on allergic conjunctivitis.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of the intranasal corticosteroid mometasone furoate nasal spray (NS) on the ocular symptoms of seasonal ...

BACKGROUND: Intranasal corticosteroids (INSs) are a mainstay of treatment of allergic rhinitis (AR) nasal symptoms. The INS mometasone furoate nasal spray (MFNS) has well-documented efficacy and safety for the treatment and prophylaxis of nasal symptoms of seasonal AR (SAR) and for the treatment of nasal symptoms of perennial AR (PAR). Increasing interest has focused on whether INSs, including MFNS, may have beneficial effects on the ocular symptoms frequently associated with ...

BACKGROUND: A history of a penicillin allergy generally leads to the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics that may increase complications and cost.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the cost-effectiveness of performing penicillin skin testing (PST).

METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on adult inpatients with a β-lactam allergy who underwent PST and oral challenge performed by an allergist. The primary outcome was overall antibiotic cost savings for patients switched to a β-lactam ...

BACKGROUND: Allergies give rise to the fifth-leading group of chronic diseases. However, the specific prevalence of ocular allergy is poorly described.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to provide a more accurate representation of the epidemiology of ocular allergy in the United States.

METHODS: The National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey III performed in the United States from 1988-1994 was the source for the data collected. Items from the questionnaire regarding ocular and nasal allergy ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Some previous research links stroke incidence to weather, some links strokes to air pollution, and some report seasonal effects. Alveolar inflammation was proposed as the mechanistic link. We present a unified model of time, weather, pollution, and upper respiratory infection (URI) incidence.

METHODS: We combined existing databases: US Environmental Protection Agency pollution levels, National Weather Service data, counts of airborne allergens, and New York City ...

A fundamental aspect of climate change is the potential shifts in flowering phenology and pollen initiation associated with milder winters and warmer seasonal air temperature. Earlier floral anthesis has been suggested, in turn, to have a role in human disease by increasing time of exposure to pollen that causes allergic rhinitis and related asthma. However, earlier floral initiation does not necessarily alter the temporal duration of the pollen season, and, to date, no consistent ...

Climatic change is expected to affect the spatiotemporal patterns of airborne allergenic pollen, which has been found to act synergistically with common air pollutants, such as ozone, to cause allergic airway disease (AAD). Observed airborne pollen data from six stations from 1994 to 2011 at Fargo (North Dakota), College Station (Texas), Omaha (Nebraska), Pleasanton (California), Cherry Hill and Newark (New Jersey) in the US were studied to examine climate change effects on trends of ...

Seasonal allergic conjunctivitis (SAC) is an inflammatory response of the conjunctiva triggered by exposure to seasonal allergens. Treatment options for SAC include artificial tears, antihistamines, decongestants, mast cell stabilizers, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, dual antihistamine/mast cell stabilizers, immunotherapy and corticosteroids. Topical, intranasal and systemic formulations of corticosteroids have traditionally provided the most effective relief of the inflammation ...

CONTEXT: Allergy symptoms that affect the eyes are common in adults and children worldwide, and are often associated with nasal allergy symptoms, prompting the term 'rhinoconjunctivitis' to describe the condition. However, this condition has not always been recognized, and earlier literature reported allergic conjunctivitis only within a subset of nasal allergy patients.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: To assess the current state of ocular allergy epidemiology, pathophysiology, and currently ...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The purpose of this review is to evaluate the effect of histamine on various receptors in the conjunctiva. A Medline search from 1980 was performed on the histamine receptor subtypes H1, H2 and H3 in the human conjunctiva.

RECENT FINDINGS: In the conjunctiva, histamine has been shown to induce various physiological and immunological changes through both H1 and H2 receptor stimulation. Histamine binding to conjunctival H1 receptors through the phospholipase C-dependent ...

Treatment for allergic conjunctivitis has markedly expanded in recent years, providing opportunities for more focused therapy, but often leaving both physicians and patients confused over the variety of options. As monotherapy, oral antihistamines are an excellent choice when attempting to control multiple earlyphase, and some late-phase, allergic symptoms in the eyes, nose and pharynx. Unfortunately, despite their efficacy in relief of allergic symptoms, systemic antihistamines may ...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To describe recent insight into the efficacy of intranasal corticosteroids in treating ocular signs and symptoms of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis.

RECENT FINDINGS: The efficacy of intranasal corticosteroids in treating allergic nasal symptoms is well established, and recent evidence indicates that this class of medication may be effective at alleviating ocular symptoms as well. The present review reveals that the method of scoring ocular symptoms in a clinical trial may ...

Allergen immunotherapy (AIT) is used for the treatment of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis as a subcutaneous injection (subcutaneous immunotherapy [SCIT]). Extracts used for SCIT are also used off-label to formulate a liquid delivered as sublingual drops (sublingual immunotherapy [SLIT]). This study was designed to survey patients' experiences and beliefs regarding SCIT and SLIT. People who had ever been diagnosed with nasal and/or ocular allergies were identified in a 2012 telephone survey ...