ABSTRACT
Rhinitis and asthma have steadily increased in prevalence in the last 50 years. Also consultations and admissions for these diseases have continued to rise. These increases are in contrast to the availability of effective medications for both asthma and rhinitis and to the number of preventive factors known today. The upper and lower airways have a common respiratory epithelium and are more likely to share a common mucosal susceptibility to disease. Thus, it is not uncommon to see the occurrence of both asthma and rhinitis in the same patient. It is estimated that around 50 to 80% of asthmatics have concurrent rhinitis (1), although this figure varies depending on the diagnostic criteria, the population studied, the sample size, and other environmental factors (2). It is therefore important to understand the comparative pathogenesis of these two conditions, and this chapter focuses on the most common forms, atopic asthma and rhinitis.
