Physician perceptions of the treatment and management of allergic and nonallergic rhinitis

Historically, rhinitis has been perceived by many clinicians in respiratory medicine as an unimportant condition. The purpose of this study was to evaluate physicians' perceptions of the impact of allergic rhinitis and chronic or nonallergic rhinitis on patients' health. This cross-sectional survey involved U.S. physicians identified from a claims database as treating patients with allergic rhinitis or chronic rhinitis during a 13-month period. Responses were stratified by physicians' overall assessment of their patients' rhinitis severity, presence or absence of an allergy specialist at the practice, and agreement or disagreement that allergic rhinitis and nonallergic rhinitis should be managed similarly. Of 2614 physicians invited to participate, 766 responded. Physicians who perceived the majority of their patients as having moderate-to-severe symptoms were more likely to be prescribed more than one class of medication and physicians whose patients had mostly mild symptoms were more likely to recommend nonprescription products. Physicians whose practice included an allergy specialist compared with physicians without an allergy specialist at their practice were more likely to report that higher percentages of their patients were prescribed more than one class of medication, more likely to rate patients' descriptions of symptom severity and quality-of-life-related issues as extremely important in treatment decisions, and less likely to believe that allergic rhinitis and nonallergic rhinitis have the same symptoms. Physicians who did not agree that allergic rhinitis and nonallergic rhinitis should be managed similarly were more likely to prescribe more than one class of medication and to rate patients' descriptions of symptom severity and quality-of-life impact as extremely important in their treatment decisions. This physician survey provides insight into perceptions of the impact of allergic rhinitis and nonallergic rhinitis on patients' quality of life and symptom severity.