The counseling of nursing decreases symptomatology and relapses in pediatric patients with allergic rhinitis

Abstract

Background Allergic rhinitis (AR) is considered to be a public health problem, therefore it is essential to test health education strategies such as nursing counseling (NC) aimed at population groups such as children with allergic rhinitis and their tutors. This study aimed to measure the health benefits of children with this disease for a year. Methods Longitudinal, randomized, comparative study with a sample of 100 pediatric patients of both sexes, aged 6 to 12 years, with diagnosis of allergic rhinitis, with counseling (study group) and without counseling (control group). In both groups, an informed consent letter signed by both tutors was obtained, in addition to knowledge and assessment papers; the latter included a scale of symptomatology and Morisky Green (adherence to treatment). The children in the study group received intervention based on personalized education, didactic material, support of the multidisciplinary group if necessary (doctor, dermatologist and psychologist). The control group received usual care. In both groups, telephone follow-up was performed, which allowed the number of relapses to be identified in one year. Results The Wilcoxon rank-sum test (Mann-Whitney) was used to compare the results; the presence of relapses in the control group was statistically significant compared to the study group. Conclusions It was found that the infant population that receives NC, has as a better benefit the control of the symptomatology and decrease of relapses per year.