Study design and population

This is a cross-sectional clinical study conducted at the Allergology and Immunology Service of the Clinical Hospital of the Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Volunteers were the groups of patients with allergic rhinitis, screened by the regular flow of care in allergy and immunology clinics, otorhinology and allergy of the institution and the control group was composed of individuals without a diagnosis of AR and no respiratory complaints.

The comparison group was recruited from a university environment and consisted of people with no clinical diagnosis of allergic rhinitis, no complaints of nasal symptoms and especially no history of nasal obstruction, confirmed by a clinical symptom score adapted by Gomes et al. ⁸.