Base: All respondents, N = 522; *Pearson chi-square, P ≤ 0.05.
Nasal Allergy Symptoms
The most frequent allergy symptoms may not be the most bothersome, so this national sample of adults with nasal allergies was asked how troubled they had been in the past week by 6 specific allergy symptoms (FIGURE 2). About half of these allergy sufferers reported that they had been extremely, moderately, or somewhat bothered in the past week by sneezing (50%) and nasal congestion (49%). Slightly fewer than half were at least somewhat bothered in the past week by postnasal drip (46%) and runny nose (41%) and more than a third were at least somewhat bothered by headaches (37%).
When asked how these symptoms affected their daily life during their worst allergy symptoms month, 33% reported that the condition affected their daily life either a lot or a moderate amount, 23% reported some impact, 22% said it only affected their life a little, and 21% said it did not really impact their daily life at all, even during the worst month. Thus, more than half the AR patients described their symptoms as impacting life a lot, a moderate degree, or some.
FIGURE 2
Patient-rated troublesomeness of nasal allergy symptoms in the last week
Patients with nasal allergies were asked: How troubled have you been by these symptoms during the last week? Were you not at all troubled, hardly troubled, somewhat troubled, moderately troubled, or extremely troubled?
Base: All respondents, N = 400.
Nasal Allergies and Sleep Disturbance
NASAL was one of the first surveys to provide a specific focus on the impact of nasal allergy symptoms on sleep disturbances among AR sufferers in the US. Overall, 34% reported that they have been troubled (somewhat/moderately/extremely) by difficulty in getting to sleep, 38% reported that the have been troubled by waking up during the night, and 42% reported that they have been troubled by lack of a good night’s sleep in the past week as a result of their nasal allergy symptoms (FIGURE 3). Compared with the general population, more patients with AR reported that they had been extremely or moderately bothered by difficulty in getting to sleep (24% vs 8%), at least moderately bothered by waking up during the night (31% vs 13%), and extremely or moderately troubled by lack of a good night’s sleep (26% vs 11%) as a result of their nasal symptoms in the past week.
FIGURE 3
Patient-rated problems with sleep in the last week
Patients with nasal allergies were asked: How troubled have you been by each of these symptoms during the last week as a result of your nasal symptoms? Were you not at all troubled, hardly troubled, somewhat troubled, moderately troubled, or extremely troubled?
Base: All respondents, N = 400.
Nasal Allergies and Activity Limitations
Activity limitation provided another measure of the burden of AR. Both patients with AR and those without nasal allergies were asked whether their health kept them from working. If their health did not keep them from working, they were asked whether they were limited in the kind or amount of work they could do because of their health. If they were not kept from working or limited in the kind or amount of work they could do, they were asked if their activities were limited in any way by their health.
As many as 1 in 5 AR patients (21%) reported that their health kept them from working, compared with 12% of adults without nasal allergies. Another 11% of AR patients said that they were limited in the kind or amount of work they could do because of their health, compared with only 4% of adults without nasal allergies. Finally, considerably fewer AR patients said that they were not limited by their health in any way, compared with those without nasal allergies (58% vs 76%, respectively) (FIGURE 4).
FIGURE 4
Impact of health on daily life: Nasal allergy vs nonallergy
All respondents were asked: (A) Does your health keep you from working? (B) Are you limited in the kind or amount of work you can do because of your health? (C) Are your activities limited in any way by your health?
Base: All respondents, N = 522. *Pearson chi-square, P ≤ 0.05.
Nasal Allergies and Productivity
Nasal allergies appear to affect a person’s productivity when symptoms are problematic. Respondents in both surveys were asked, on a scale of 0 to 100, in which 100 means 100% productivity, where they would rank their productivity on average days when they did not have an immediate health concern. Adults without nasal allergies ranked their average productivity at 88% on days without immediate health concerns, which was virtually identical to the average reported productivity at 89% for AR patients on days when they were not experiencing nasal allergy symptoms. However, these same AR patients reported that their average productivity was only 71% on days when their nasal allergies were at their worst, representing a 20% decline in productivity of adults as a result of nasal allergy symptoms (FIGURE 5).