Managing impairment in patients with allergic rhinitis

Allergic rhinitis is a common medical problem in both the adult and the pediatric population. A main complication of this disease is a reduction in the patient's quality of life. Individuals with either seasonal or perennial allergic rhinitis often are impaired, adversely affecting work and/or school performance. This impairment can result from the disease itself and the treatment thereof. Oral antihistamines are the mainstay of treatment for allergic disease. First-generation antihistamines are considered sedating and frequently are impairing even when sedation is absent. Second-generation antihistamines show some class variability regarding impairment but as a group are clearly less impairing than their first-generation predecessors. Second-generation antihistamines are the preferred medication when antihistamines are necessary.