Relation between blood pressure and rhinitis in a Japanese adolescent population

Recent studies have reported an association between systolic blood pressure (BP) and rhinitis. The prevalence of allergic rhinitis is 20% to 30% in Japan. The present cross-sectional study was performed to assess the relation between BP and allergic rhinitis in a sample of 2,292 male adolescent high school students who attended the annual school health examination. Of the 2,292 students (mean age, 16 years), 26.6% were considered to have allergic rhinitis based on their responses to a questionnaire, 25.1% were diagnosed with allergic rhinitis by an otolaryngologist, and 12.6% were consistently diagnosed with allergic rhinitis by both questionnaire and an otolaryngologist. There was no difference in systolic BP between subjects with and without allergic rhinitis. Diastolic BP, however, was higher in subjects without allergic rhinitis than in those with allergic rhinitis as diagnosed by questionnaire alone or by both questionnaire and an otolaryngologist. When the subjects were divided into three BP categories (normal, high normal, and hypertension) according to the criteria in the JSH 2000, the rates of allergic rhinitis were similar in the three BP categories. These findings do not confirm a relation between allergic rhinitis and systolic BP.