[Validation of the SF-36 questionnaire in adults with asthma and allergic rhinitis in Mexican population]. / Validación del cuestionario SF-36 en pacientes adultos con asma y rinitis alérgica.

BACKGROUND: Multiple questionnaires demonstrated the effect of the disease on the Quality of Life (QL), especially on allergies. Asthma and allergic rhinitis contributes to the reduction of QL. One of the accepted instruments for the evaluation of QL in chronic diseases is the questionnaire SF-36 (SF-36). Our objective was to validate the SF-36 in Mexican asthmatic with allergic rhinitis adult patients. METHODS: Fifty asthmatic patients with allergic rhinitis participated. They were placed according to the severity of their asthma (GINA 2004) and of allergic rhinitis (ARIA). The SF-36 was applied. The results were analyzed by descriptive statistics and validation by internal consistency through the Cronbach's test. RESULTS: It was observed that greater deterioration of QL in asthmatic patients with allergic rhinitis is directly related with the severity of their disease. Greater deterioration was observed on physical nature and of the perception of health. The aspect less affected was the social function and mental health. The Cronbach's test showed a coefficient of global reliability of 0.9314. CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained for the validation of SF-36, through the Cronbach's test in the population studied allows their use for later studies.

[Asthma or laryngeal amyloidosis? A report of a case and literature review]. / Asma o amiloidosis laríngea? Comunicación de un caso y revisión de la literatura.

The laryngeal amyloidosis is an uncommon disease accounting for 1% of all benign lesions of larynx. The commonest symptom is the dysphonia, sometimes accompanied by stridor, laryngeal globus sensation, dysphagia and, in rare occasions, cough, dyspnea and hemoptysis, specially when the tracheobronchial tree is also affected. This paper describes the case of a 30-year-old female patient, whose main symptoms were progressive dysphonia and dyspnea, admitted at allergy service to rule out asthma. The respiratory function tests showed obstruction in the medium and small caliber ways without reversibility with salbutamol. Biopsies of ventricular band, vocal cord and arytenoid stained with positive Congo red for amyloid tissue, established the laryngeal amyloidosis diagnosis. The complementary studies to rule out amyloid tissue in the remaining tracheobronchial tree were negative. Dyspnea had characteristics of laryngeal origin, caused by a pulmonary ventilation disorder provoked by the difficult arrival of air to alveoli, which caused the decreased partial pressure of oxygen and CO2.