Allergic rhinitis and asthma: Does allergic rhinitis increase the risk of asthma?

While reading this article by Medical News Today today I came across an interesting statement and one that holds very true for my son: "'Allergic rhinitis has been shown to increase the risk of asthma three-fold, and investigators found that when rhinitis began in the first year of life, the development of asthma by age 6 was twice as high as when it started after the first year,' Dr. Pawankar said".

Really? 3 fold? That to me is amazing. And much of what the article goes on to say is very true for my son. He suffers from ear infections, chronic sinus infections, asthma, interrupted sleep (in fact he never slept through the night as an infant until he was over 2 years old and even now sleeps poorly), emotional problems, and the decreased social functioning that the article talks about. As a baby, he started out with eczema, then reflux (possibly also food allergic reactions that went undiagnosed), RAD (reactive airway disease that was eventually termed as asthma once he turned 2 years old), and nasal and food allergies. Thus my son essentially did the allergy march.

I thought we have the nasal allergies under control, but maybe we really don't. I think I need to bring this up at our next visit with the allergist. The article also states "The treatment of allergic rhinitis is shown to improve co-existing conditions including conjunctivitis, asthma, sinusitis, otitis media with effusion (fluid in the middle ear) and sleep disorders according to an international expert at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) in Miami Beach, Fla". Maybe if we can get the allergic rhinitis under control better the other conditions will be better under control also.

What can you do about allergic rhinitis:

Allergy and Asthma pagefrom WEGO Health

Allergy Medication page from WEGO Health

Rhinitis Treatment Care: Questions on Adult Onset Allergies the answers to this question are where the good information can be found.

Allergic rhinitis and asthma discussion from the WebMD boards.

Homeopathy for allergies: Nothing to sneeze at from Homeopathy for Women Blog

Holistic Approach to Allergies from Ask the Herbalist

Laser Treatment for Nasal Allergy from Dr. Paulose World Class ENT Plastic and Laser Surgeon

Treating Allergic Rhinitis-Alternative options from Health and Body Care

Managing Nasal Allergies a video from ICYOU Health

For more information see:

Is there a way to derail the children's 'Allergy March'? from Science Blog

WEGO Health's Nasal Allergy Page

Allergic Rhinitis in Depth from HowStuffWorks

New Survey Reinforces Link Between Asthma And Allergic Rhinitis from accessibility.com.au on Facebook

What are your thoughts on this finding? Do you or someone you love suffer from allergic rhinitis and asthma? Do you think one helped to bring about the other? What do hear from your community? I know that in my community the "allergy march" seems to be quite common. Have you had conversations about the "allergy march"? Any suggestion on therapies or things that have helped lessen allergic rhinitis?

Keep the discussion going. Please use the video or any of the links in your community to bring up this topic or to answer any existing questions about allergic rhinitis and the increase of asthma. Also, you can start your own discussion by visiting the Asthma and Allergy Group.