Skin reactivity to vasomotor agents in non-eosinophilic and eosinophilic non-allergic rhinitis

Abstract

The aim of this prospective study was to examine skin reactivity to four vasomotor agents and to determine whether non-eosinophilic rhinitis patients differ from patients with eosinophilic rhinitis. Nasal cytology enabled us to classify 74 rhinitis patients into a non-eosinophilic (n = 63) and an eosinophilic group (n = 11). Skin reactivity to intradermal tests with papaverine, metacholine, histamine and compound 48/80 was measured. No significant difference for papaverine, metacholine, histamine and compound 48/80, singly, was found between the non-eosinophilic and eosinophilic group. The frequency of the total pathological skin reactivity to vasomotor agents, singly and in combinations, was greater in the eosinophilic (91 per cent) then in the non-eosinophilic group (78 per cent) but intergroup difference was not significant. These findings suggest that pathologic skin reactivity to vasomotor agents is a feature of non-eosinophilic as well as eosinophilic non-allergic rhinitis patients and indicate that no difference is noticed in the skin reactivity between these groups.