How often do normal persons sneeze and blow the nose?

Area of Science:

• Allergy and Immunology
• Otolaryngology
• Clinical Research Methodology

Background:

• Rhinitis is clinically diagnosed by nasal symptoms, despite being an inflammatory disease.
• Defining normal frequency of nasal symptoms like sneezing and nose blowing is crucial for accurate diagnosis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a quantitative threshold for normal daily sneezing and nose blowing.
• To differentiate between normal physiological nasal events and potential rhinitis indicators.

Main Methods:

• 80 healthy hospital employees and medical students self-reported daily sneezes and nose blowing on diary cards over 14 days.
• Data analysis focused on establishing average daily symptom frequency in a non-rhinitis population.

Main Results:

• Over 95% of participants considered normal sneezed and blew their nose less than 4 times per day on average.
• This finding provides a quantifiable measure for normal nasal symptom frequency.

Conclusions:

• A daily average of less than 4 sneezes or nose blows is considered normal.
• Higher frequencies may indicate the presence of rhinitis and warrant further investigation.
• Counting these symptoms can refine study populations in clinical trials for rhinitis treatments.