Nonpharmacological measures to prevent allergic symptoms in pollen allergy: A critical review

Allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (hay fever) is the most common chronic disease in all industrialized nations. Therapy consists essentially in the use of anti-allergic and anti-inflammatory drugs, which mostly show a good and quick effect. With allergen-specific immunotherapy, there is also a causal possibility of tolerance induction. There is currently a considerable undersupply, as those affected trivialize the symptoms and often have concerns about long-term drug therapy. There is also great interest in using non-medicinal measures to prevent and/or relieve allergic symptoms on the assumption that these are free from side effects. In this publication, we present non-drug methods for which clinical studies are available in the literature. The methods have varying degrees of effectiveness. An evidence-based comparative assessment between the methods is not possible. There are also hardly any studies in comparison to standard drug therapy. A large number of the interventions consist of allergen reduction, e.g., with air filters, or cleaning of the mucous membranes with nasal irrigation, etc., none of which should be seen as a substitute but as a supplement to drug therapy.