Intranasal steroids: managing allergic rhinitis and tailoring treatment to patient preference

Allergic rhinitis (AR) can have a significant impact on patient quality of life (QoL), affecting learning ability and work productivity. Both the consequences of the impairment and the costs of treatment are associated with a large economic burden. The management of AR includes allergen avoidance, pharmacotherapy, and immunotherapy. Current pharmacotherapy options are oral and intranasal antihistamines, intranasal corticosteroids (INS), intranasal chromones, oral and intranasal decongestants, oral and intranasal anticholinergic agents, and antileukotrienes. A number of guidelines recommend INS as first-line treatment for persistent and moderate-to-severe AR. Although both patient and physician concern over the long-term safety of oral systemic steroids has previously prevented widespread use of INS, it is important to note that they have a superior risk/benefit ratio compared with other monotherapies. Indeed, the limited systemic bioavailability of INS agents, when used at recommended doses, has resulted in very low rates of systemic adverse effects, as shown by a lack of either hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis or growth suppression. Large, controlled clinical studies have shown comparable efficacy and safety among the newer INS; therefore, clinicians may need to consider other factors, such as good patient compliance, when selecting an appropriate INS agent for a patient. In addition, patients often prefer one agent over another, and compliance may be improved by selecting the preferred agent. The development of two new questionnaires, the Clinical Practice Patient Preference Questionnaire and the Clinical Trial Patient Preference Questionnaire, may prove useful in selecting the optimal treatment regimen for patients.