“More than half of all patients with allergic rhinitis are unhappy with their illness,” says Erkka Valovirta , Professor of Pediatric and Pediatric Allergy Diseases . “The new allergy application helps both the patient and the doctor to map out the symptoms and treat the allergic rhinitis in the right way.”
An allergy diary guides you to the right kind of medication
The user of the allergy diary app saves daily, for example, the time of pollen, his symptoms and his medication to the application. The application uses a new VAS scale developed for the monitoring of allergic rhinitis, whereby the patient evaluates his symptoms daily.
The application guides the user to raise, reduce or maintain medication. If the symptoms are in a poor balance of treatment for more than three days, the application directs the patient to a doctor or pharmacist. In addition, the Allergy Diary reminds you of taking medicines.
The application is also a good tool for the physician to monitor the patient’s symptoms. The application provides the physician with accurate information on how the selected drugs work, so the medication can be changed if necessary.
The Finnish Allergy Day can be downloaded free of charge from your AppStor and Google Play store.
Guidance and instructions from your pharmacist and doctor
“Today, good and effective medicines are available for the treatment of allergic rhinitis. However, many patients use the medication irregularly, reduce the dose too quickly, or use drugs too little for their symptoms. The application immediately shows the situation and directs the patient or doctor to work properly, ”says Erkka Valovirta.
Many treat allergic rhinitis at a pharmacy without prescription available with self-medication. The use of preparations is a type of technique that should rely on the advice of pharmacist to ensure proper dosing.
About 1.5 million Finns suffer from allergic rhinitis. People with severe allergic rhinitis that significantly impair their quality of life suffer from 100,000 to 200,000. Especially patients with severe allergic rhinitis, and those who do not have symptoms of self-medication, should seek medical advice. Luminous flux invites difficult-to-treat patients to reserve time for a doctor’s appointment this autumn:
“When patients follow their symptoms in the Allergy Diary, it is easy for the physician to determine, on the basis of the symptoms, whether the patient should start treatment in the autumn after the end of the pollen season.”
In the Nordic countries, the least tolerant treatment is used in Finland: only about 5,000 patients receive it.
“Regional disparities in Finland are very large, even though all patients, regardless of their residential area, should have equal access to treatment,” says Valovirta.
Untreated allergic rhinitis weakens the quality of life
Those with active symptoms of allergic rhinitis also have 1.5 to 4.5 times 1 more likely to have associated diseases. Such diseases include e.g. asthma, ear infection, sinusitis, eczema, migraine, depression and atopic dermatitis.
Allergic rhinitis, which is poorly balanced, also affects sleep quality, concentration, ability to work, and learning success. It is difficult for patients to sleep and feeling tired, lousy and irritable2. 90% of patients report that allergic rhinitis disrupts work. The performance of schoolchildren may also be impaired by illness.3
About the Allergy Diary application
The developer of the application is the European MACVIA-LR Center (Contre les Maladies Chroniques pour Vieillissement Actif en Languedoc Roussillon). It is the organizer of the World Health Organization (WHO) project to promote active and healthy aging and the management of chronic diseases. The purpose of this ARIA project (Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact is Asthma) is to introduce and provide training in the treatment of allergic rhinitis and associated asthma based on well-known knowledge throughout the world. The Allergy Diary application is part of a national allergy program aimed at changing the direction of allergies, treatment and prevention.
For more information:
Professor, Specialist in Pediatric and Child Allergic Diseases, Specialist of Filha Association Erkka Valovirta
tel. +358 40 510 2101
Project Manager Erja Tommila, Filha ry
tel. +358 50 581 1456
Top REFERENCES:
1 Derebery J et al., Rhinitis Symptoms and Comorbidities in the United States: The Rhinitis in America Survey, Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2008; 139 (2): 198-205; Vandenplas O et al., Rhinitis and its impact on work, Curr Opin Allergy Clin Immunol 2008; 8: 145-149.
2 Meltzer et al., JACI 2009; 124; 243-7
3 Meltzer et al., 2009; Walker et al., 2007; Meltzer, 2007; Juniper et al., 2005; Nathan, 2007; Hellgren et al., 2010