アレルギー性鼻炎患者におけるQOL（第4報）—スギ花粉飛散量とQOL

QOL in Japanese-Cedar Pollinosis:Relation between Pollen Counts and QOL

　はじめに

　近年，疾患の治療対処を考える際にQOL（quality of life）の改善，維持を含め議論されることが増えてきている。アレルギー疾患の管理においても，同様にQOLの評価が重要視されつつある^1）。花粉症を含めたアレルギー性鼻炎においても3症状だけではなく，頭痛，頭重感の合併，集中力の低下，嗅覚の低下など日常生活における身体的，精神的機能への影響は決して少なくない^2）。

　しかしわが国においては，その研究は十分とはいえず，アレルギー性鼻炎を対象とした検討は現在までのところわれわれのスギ花粉症の報告^3〜5）以外認められない。

In our previous studies, we reported that the patients with Japanese-cedar pollinosis suffered from a substantial interference in their QOL. In this study, we compared QOL score in Japanese-cedar pollinosis patients in 1998 that was a low pollencount pollencount season, and in 1999 that high pollen count season, using the SF-36 questionnaire. 189 patients with Japanese-cedar pollinosis who completed the questionnaire for 1998 and 1999 were enrolled in this study. The severity of rhinitis, pro-vided by the patients was correlated with QOL scores. QOL scores in RP (role physical) were signif-icantly lower in 1999 than 1998. Although the differ-ence was not significant, a trend toward lower QOL scores was observed in 1999 compared with 1998. These results might be caused by the higher pollen count in 1999.