The prevalence of allergic rhinitis (AR), an environment- and lifestyle-dependent condition, has been constantly increasing in Korea. Although the environment and lifestyle of the Korean people have recently undergone rapid changes, corresponding changes in the characteristics of AR patients have not been well documented. Therefore, we aimed to outline the changes in allergens and clinical manifestations of AR in Korean patients from the 1990s and 2010s. We reviewed 1447 and 3388 AR patients who visited the same tertiary hospital in the 1990s and 2010s, respectively. All patients were diagnosed with AR based on the presence of characteristic symptoms, positive skin prick test results, and answered a symptom questionnaire at the time of visit. We compared differences in the allergens and results of the symptom questionnaire between the two sets of patients. When compared with the 1990s, the rate of sensitization to house dust mites, cockroaches, Aspergillus, Alternaria, and tree pollen significantly increased and that to cat fur significantly decreased in patients from the 2010s (all P < 0.05). Male predominance was observed with two peaks in the age distribution of patients from the 2010s. The proportion of patients with moderate-to-severe nasal obstruction and itching of the nose/eye increased (each P < 0.05) and that of patients with minor symptoms such as olfactory disturbances, cough, sore throat, and fatigue also increased (all P < 0.01) in the 2010s. Allergen reactivity and type and symptom severity in Korean AR patients significantly varied between the 1990s and 2010s. Our results may therefore be helpful for patient counseling and management.

中文翻译：

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1990年代和2010年代过敏性鼻炎患者过敏原和症状的比较。

过敏性鼻炎 (AR) 是一种依赖于环境和生活方式的疾病，其患病率在韩国不断增加。尽管最近韩国人的环境和生活方式发生了快速变化，但 AR 患者特征的相应变化并没有得到很好的记录。因此，我们旨在概述 1990 年代和 2010 年代韩国患者的过敏原和 AR 临床表现的变化。我们分别回顾了 1990 年代和 2010 年代在同一家三级医院就诊的 1447 名和 3388 名 AR 患者。所有患者均根据存在的特征性症状、阳性皮肤点刺试验结果被诊断为 AR，并在就诊时回答了症状问卷。我们比较了两组患者的过敏原和症状问卷结果的差异。与1990年代相比，2010年代患者对屋尘螨、蟑螂、曲霉、链格孢、树花粉的致敏率显着升高，对猫毛的致敏率显着降低（均P < 0.05）。从 2010 年代起，患者的年龄分布出现两个高峰，男性占优势。中重度鼻塞和鼻/眼瘙痒患者比例增加（均P < 0.05），嗅觉障碍、咳嗽、咽痛、乏力等轻微症状患者比例也增加（均P < 0.01) 在 2010 年代。韩国 AR 患者的过敏原反应性、类型和症状严重程度在 1990 年代和 2010 年代之间存在显着差异。