The study protocol was approved by the Research Center of Medical College of King Saud University and its Ethical Committee, and all participants provided informed consent. Individuals with poor Arabic reading and writing abilities, or with a non-Arabic mother language, were excluded from this study. This cross-sectional study evaluated 75 control participants and 173 patients with AR, who were recruited from the primary healthcare clinic at King Abdul-Aziz University Hospital in Riyadh during August–November 2016. All patients with AR had signs and symptoms that were confirmed by our otolaryngologists. The controls were healthy individuals who had accompanied the patients to the otolaryngology clinic, but were found to not have AR signs/symptoms by our otolaryngologists. All investigators were otolaryngologist specialists or consultants who were blinded to the purpose of the study.
Before the clinic visit, potential participants were asked to sign the consent form and then complete the Arabic SFAR. The completed questionnaires were placed in sealed envelopes and given to the clinic nurses in order to blind the physicians to the responses. All participants were assessed by our otolaryngologists to document their history, including presence or absence of AR symptoms (sneezing, nasal congestion, watery rhinorrhea, postnasal drip, nasal itching, anosmia/hyposmia, headache, tearing, red eyes, fatigue, and malaise), and completed a physical examination to document AR signs (allergic shiners, nasal crease, swollen nasal mucosa, pale, bluish-gray color, watery nasal discharge, and nasal septum deviation or perforation).
Before the clinic visit, potential participants were asked to sign the consent form and then complete the Arabic SFAR. The completed questionnaires were placed in sealed envelopes and given to the clinic nurses in order to blind the physicians to the responses. All participants were assessed by our otolaryngologists to document their history, including presence or absence of AR symptoms (sneezing, nasal congestion, watery rhinorrhea, postnasal drip, nasal itching, anosmia/hyposmia, headache, tearing, red eyes, fatigue, and malaise), and completed a physical examination to document AR signs (allergic shiners, nasal crease, swollen nasal mucosa, pale, bluish-gray color, watery nasal discharge, and nasal septum deviation or perforation).
