Assessing repeatability and reproducibility of Anterior Active Rhinomanometry (AAR) in children.

BACKGROUND: Repeatability and reproducibility are essential for clinicians for several purposes. Although discouraged, use of the Coefficient of Variation (CV) for assessing repeatability and reproducibility, rather than the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC), is still widespread. The aim of the present study was to highlight how using inappropriate indices may lead to misleading results, and this is done by simulation study and using real data on Anterior Active Rhinomanometry (AAR) in both healthy children and ones with rhinitis. METHODS: A simulation study was carried out to highlight how using inappropriate indices could be misleading. Then a comparison was made between CV and ICC to assess repeatability and reproducibility of AAR, for which previous studies have given underestimated results. AAR is recommended as the gold standard tool for measuring nasal resistance in clinical practice. RESULTS: A simulation study showed that the ICCs estimated from data generated assuming a true CV yielded results in agreement with estimated CVs; by contrast, if data were generated assuming a true ICC, CVs yielded conflicting results. For AAR, ICCs showed good repeatability, whereas CVs showed unacceptable repeatability. AUC and 95% CI for AAR showed good performance in predicting current symptoms of rhinitis in the overall study population. CONCLUSIONS: The present study focused on the importance of the choice of appropriate indices of repeatability and reproducibility, demonstrating the repeatability of AAR in both healthy children and ones with rhinitis. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov (ID: NCT03286049; Registration Date: September 15, 2017; Actual Study Start Date: January 10, 2018).

Nasal reactivity evaluation in children with allergic rhinitis receiving grass pollen sublingual immunotherapy.

Background: The European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology guidelines, strongly recommended allergen immunotherapy (AIT) as an effective treatment to achieve long-term clinical benefits and to modify the natural history of allergic diseases. Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) offers the possibility of home administration, which improves patient comfort and compliance. Objective: The primary outcome of this study was to assess the change in nasal reactivity after grass-pollen AIT treatment. Methods: This was a monocentric, prospective, observational study conducted in Rome from September 2016 to June 2018, in the Pediatric Department of Policlinico Umberto I. We enrolled children, ages between 6 and 12 years, with persistent allergic rhinitis (AR), sensitized to grass pollen. At the first visit (V0, September 2016), one group received the first dose of oral immunotherapy for grass-pollen spray buccal and the other group continued only standard therapy. All the patients had nasal specific immunoglobulin I (IgE) assay (Phl p1, Phl p5), active anterior rhinomanometry with a nasal provocation test (NPT), and spirometry. The patients attended two follow-up visits, in May 2017 (V1) and May 2018 (V2), with the same examinations as at V0. Results: During the treatment, we observed, in the treated group, a significant increase in the mean nasal flow compared with untreated children (p < 0.001). In the AIT group, we found an improvement of nasal function and only 21.05% of all the children in the active group with a positive NPT result at V2. In the control group, we found, at V2, a worsening of nasal function, with 89.47% of the children with a positive NPT result. Furthermore, we found a significant reduction of nasal specific IgE levels at the end of the observation period in the treated group. Conclusion: Analysis of our data provided evidence for a clinical effect of SLIT in inducing clinical changes and allergen tolerance in children with AR.

When asthma and rhinitis coexist, could rhinitis reduce asthma control in children?

Background: Bronchial asthma and rhinitis are among the most common diseases in children and frequently coexist in the patient. The primary aim of anti-asthmatic therapy is disease control. Several questionnaires can be used in pediatrics to assess asthma control and the Children Asthma Control Test (C-ACT) is one of the most used. Objective: To evaluate the percentage of asthma control in our cohort of patients with asthma and correlate C-ACT with bronchial and nasal function tests. Methods: We enrolled all children ages between 5 and 11 years with persistent bronchial asthma, sensitized to dust mite, and who presented to our center during an 8-month period. All the children had skin-prick tests, spirometry, measurement of fractional exhaled nitric oxide levels, active anterior rhinomanometry, measurement of nasal nitric oxide level, and C-ACT. Results: Sixty patients were enrolled; 80% of these children had rhinitis. According to C-ACT, 31% of our patients had uncontrolled asthma. Nasal flow values were significantly lower in patients with uncontrolled asthma, who also had higher nasal inflammation. Conclusion: The disease is not controlled in a significant percentage of children with asthma. In patients with uncontrolled asthma, worse nasal flow was detected. These results supported the relationship between upper and lower airways, and highlighted the importance of performing nasal function tests in all patients with asthma, which could be useful to determine whether better control of asthma symptoms can be reached through an appropriate treatment of rhinitis.

Efficacy of Pidotimod use in treating allergic rhinitis in a pediatric population.

BACKGROUND: Allergic rhinitis (AR) and adenoidal hypertrophy (AH) are the most frequent causative disorders of nasal obstruction in children, leading to recurrent respiratory infections. Both nasal cavities are colonized by a stable microbial community susceptible to environmental changes and Staphylococcus aureus seems to play the major role. Furthermore, nasal microbiota holds a large number and variety of viruses with upper respiratory tract infections. This local microbiota deserves attention because its modification could induce a virtuous cross-talking with the immune system, with a better clearance of pathogens. Although AR and AH present a different etiopathogenesis, they have in common a minimal chronic inflammation surrounding nasal obstruction; hence it would be challenging to evaluate the effect of an immunomodulator on this minimal chronic inflammation with possible clinical and microbiological effects. The aim of this study is therefore to evaluate the efficacy of an immunomoldulator (Pidotimod) on nasal obstruction in children with AR and/or AH and whether its action involves a variation of nasal microbiota. METHODS: We enrolled 76 children: those with allergic rhinitis (AR) sensitized to dust mites entered the AR group, those with adenoidal hypertrophy (AH) the AH group, those with both conditions the AR/AH group and those without AR ± AH as controls (CTRL). At the first visit they performed: skin prick tests, nasal fiberoptic endoscopy, anterior rhinomanometry, nasal swabs. Children with. AR ± AH started treatment with Pidotimod. After 1 month they were re-evaluated performing the same procedures. The primary outcome was the evaluation of nasal obstruction after treatment and the secondary outcome was the improvement of symptoms and the changes in nasal microflora. RESULTS: All patients improved their mean nasal flow (mNF) in respect to the baseline. In AR children mNF reached that one of CTRL. In AH children±AR the mNF was lower in respect to CTRL and AR group. We did not find any differences among all the groups at the two different time points in nasal microflora. CONCLUSIONS: Pidotimod is able to give an improvement in nasal obstruction, especially in AR children but this effect seems to be not mediated by changes in nasal microbiota.

16S Metagenomics Reveals Dysbiosis of Nasal Core Microbiota in Children With Chronic Nasal Inflammation: Role of Adenoid Hypertrophy and Allergic Rhinitis.

Allergic rhinitis (AR) and adenoid hypertrophy (AH) are, in children, the main cause of partial or complete upper airway obstruction and reduction in airflow. However, limited data exist about the impact of the increased resistance to airflow, on the nasal microbial composition of children with AR end AH. Allergic rhinitis (AR) as well as adenoid hypertrophy (AH), represent extremely common pathologies in this population. Their known inflammatory obstruction is amplified when both pathologies coexist. In our study, the microbiota of anterior nares of 75 pediatric subjects with AR, AH or both conditions, was explored by 16S rRNA-based metagenomic approach. Our data show for the first time, that in children, the inflammatory state is associated to similar changes in the microbiota composition of AR and AH subjects respect to the healthy condition. Together with such alterations, we observed a reduced variability in the between-subject biodiversity on the other hand, these same alterations resulted amplified by the nasal obstruction that could constitute a secondary risk factor for dysbiosis. Significant differences in the relative abundance of specific microbial groups were found between diseased phenotypes and the controls. Most of these taxa belonged to a stable and quantitatively dominating component of the nasal microbiota and showed marked potentials in discriminating the controls from diseased subjects. A pauperization of the nasal microbial network was observed in diseased status in respect to the number of involved taxa and connectivity. Finally, while stable co-occurrence relationships were observed within both control- and diseases-associated microbial groups, only negative correlations were present between them, suggesting that microbial subgroups potentially act as maintainer of the eubiosis state in the nasal ecosystem. In the nasal ecosystem, inflammation-associated shifts seem to impact the more intimate component of the microbiota rather than representing the mere loss of microbial diversity. The discriminatory potential showed by differentially abundant taxa provide a starting point for future research with the potential to improve patient outcomes. Overall, our results underline the association of AH and AR with the impairment of the microbial interplay leading to unbalanced ecosystems.

A polycentric, randomized, parallel-group, study on Lertal®, a multicomponent nutraceutical, as preventive treatment in children with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis: phase II.

BACKGROUND: Lertal®, an oral nutraceutical, contains extract of Perilla, quercetin, and Vitamin D3. The current polycentric, randomized, parallel-group, controlled study aimed in the Phase II to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Lertal® in preventing allergic rhinitis (AR) exacerbations in children after the end of the pharmacological treatment phase. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred twenty-eight children completed Phase II. Sixty-four children continued Lertal® treatment (Lertal® Group: LG) and 64 ones did not assume any medication (Observation Group: OG) for 4-12 weeks. The study endpoints were the number, intensity, and duration of AR exacerbations, and the length of symptom-free time. RESULTS: Children of LG halved the risk (HR = 0.54) of having AR exacerbation. Children of LG had significantly (p = 0.039) less AR exacerbations than OG children. In children with AR exacerbations, the total number of days in which each patient took at least one rescue medication was significantly (p = 0.018) lesser in LG children than OG ones. In the global population, the cumulative days treated with rescue medication was significantly (p < 0.0001) higher in OG than in LG. There was no clinically relevant adverse event. CONCLUSIONS: The present study documented that prolonged Lertal® assumption was safe and able to significantly reduce, such as halving, the risk of AR exacerbation, their duration and the use of rescue medications, after the suspension of the one-month antihistamine treatment. Therefore, Lertal® could be envisaged as an effective preventive treatment in AR children able to guarantee long symptom-free time. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical trial registration: ClinicalTrials gov ID NCT03365648 .

Rhinocerebral zygomycosis with pansinusitis in a 14-year-old girl with type 1 diabetes: a case report and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Zygomycosis is a rare life-threatening fungal infection affecting mostly patients with predisposing conditions such as diabetes mellitus, immunodeficiency, haemochromatosis or major trauma. METHODS: We describe a case of rhinocerebral zygomycosis in a girl with type 1 diabetes and review previous published cases and treatment options. RESULTS: A 14-year-old girl with type 1 diabetes mellitus occurred with dental pain, facial swelling, ecchymosis and left eye decreased visual acuity, unresponsive to antibiotic therapy. The cultures of the sinusal mucosa were positive for fungal species belonging to the Zygomycetes. She performed antifungal therapy with posaconazole (POS) with a very slow improvement and a poor glycemic control, leading to blindness of the left eye. CONCLUSION: Our report adds further awareness on rhinocerebral zygomycosis and emphasizes on urgent diagnosis and timely management of this potentially fatal fungal infection through an adequate treatment.