ABSTRACT
Classically rhinitis has been described as a disease of no importance ‘except to those who suffer from it’. In fact the symptoms have a marked effect upon quality of life similar to that experienced by sufferers with mild to moderate asthma and chronic back pain (Table 1.1). It is also a cause of missed attendance at both workplace and school (3-4% of the United States population), and of reduced productivity at both places (30-40%). The economic impact of rhinitis, or rhinosinusitis as it should be known since the sinus mucosa is nearly always involved, is significant: an estimated $5 billion per annum in the United States in 1996.
