ABSTRACT
The organization of this chapter is as follows: the Background section reviews types and sources of irritants in ambient and indoor air, relevant nasal anatomy and physiology, and study techniques applied to the upper airway. Studies of environmental nonallergic rhinitis are then reviewed in the following order: (i) controlled human exposure studies, (ii) observational studies of air quality and the upper airway, and (iii) intervention studies. Finally, consideration is given to alternative mechanisms involved in irritant-related upper airway reflexes. Because of space limitations, the mechanistic discussion will include ‘‘downstream’’ (reflex) events but not ‘‘upstream’’ events such as neural transduction of chemical irritant signals.
