Epidemiological and immunological study of nasal polyposis among allergic patients in Babylon province:...

To determine the prevalence of nasal polyposis among allergic patients, and to investigate the impact of polyposis on allergic inflammatory markers.

The cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2018 to January 2019 at the Asthma and Allergy Centre, Babylon, Iraq, and comprised patients aged 15-71 years with allergic asthma and or allergic rhinitis. The patients were divided into two groups; A with nasal polyposis, and B without nasal polyposis. Other than demographical data, total serum immuglobulin E, and blood eosinophil percentage were collected. Data was analysed using SPSS 22.

Of the 240 patients, 81(33.8%) were in group A, and 159(66.2%) were in group B. The overall mean age of the sample was 35.9±13.8 years. The overall mean immunoglobulin E level was 221±141 and the mean peripheral eosinophil percentage was 4±1.68. Prevalence of nasal polyposis increased with age (p<0.05), but was not affected by gender or residency (p>0.05). The markers increased significantly in the presence of polyposis in patients with respiratory allergy (p<0.05).

Nasal polyposis was found to be highly prevalent in patients with respiratory allergy and the combined presence of these two diseases caused additional increment in allergic markers.