Allergic rhinitis tied to thromboembolic disease in pregnancy

Pregnant women with allergic rhinitis before and after childbirth see higher rates of thromboembolic (TE) disease and venous complications, a recent study has found.

Drawing from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, researchers assessed a total of 55,057 pregnant women from 2004 to 2011. Most participants (n=32,640) were not diagnosed with allergic rhinitis while 22,417 women were. Caesarean delivery, medical comorbidities, and delivery complications were all significantly higher in the latter group.

Similarly, TE was more common in women with vs without allergic rhinitis during pregnancy, though the difference was not statistically significant (0.98 vs 0.70 per 1,000 subjects; p=0.264). The resulting risk estimate, as determined by logistic regression analysis, likewise reflected no significant between-group difference (odds ratio [OR], 1.39, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.78–2.50). A similar finding was reported for venous complications (OR, 1.39, 95 percent CI, 0.96–1.45).

However, further analysis revealed that women whose allergic rhinitis persisted from before to after pregnancy (ie, allergic rhinitis remained uncontrolled) saw significantly higher risks of TE (OR, 2.64, 95 percent CI, 1.31–5.34; p=0.027) and venous complications (OR, 1.35, 95 percent CI, 1.01–1.80; p=0.037).

Meanwhile, such effects were absent in those who were diagnosed with allergic rhinitis before, but not after, pregnancy as compared to controls who had never been diagnosed with allergic rhinitis.

“This result suggests that different methods, such as allergen prevention and appropriate medical treatment to improve the symptoms of allergic rhinitis, are important to prevent the development of TE,” the researchers said.