Prevalence Of Allergic Rhinitis and Its Perceived Effect on Academic Activity Among College Students – A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a widespread and under diagnosed upper airway disease. It has significant social and economic burden. Symptoms may cause fatigue, mood changes and difficult sleep that may have deleterious effect on student’s academic activity. Methods: This was an observational cross-sectional study among 1337 college students in Vadodara city of Gujarat, selected by cluster sampling method. Response was recorded using SFAR (Score for allergic rhinitis) scale and a semi structured questionnaire. Results: Prevalence of AR using SFAR was 19.22% among college students, out of them 65.4% were girls and 34.6% boys. The prevalence of two major variant of AR, perennial and seasonal was 38.91% and 51.75% respectively. 81.32% were aware about their allergy, 20.23% had gone for allergy test and 73.08% among them resulted positive. 82.49% students had perceived that AR is affecting their academic activity among SFAR≥7 group. Conclusion: The results of this survey showed elevated prevalence of AR among college students in Vadodara city; however, allergy tests and physician visits for AR conditions were less. Major proportion that had self-reported AR has shown associated comorbidity. Students with AR, perceive a negative effect on their academic activity that equally affects girls and boys.