Background:

Studies on allergic rhinitis prevalence have found significant variations in their results, even in closely-living populations.

Objective:

To determine and compare the prevalence of allergic rhinitis and its symptoms in schoolchildren from Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.

Methods:

Cross-sectional, descriptive study on the prevalence of allergic rhinitis diagnosis and symptoms, where the “Diagnostic questionnaire for epidemiological studies” was used between June and December 2015 in pre-school and primary and secondary school population, after authorization was granted by parents and school authorities.

Results:

In 7866 surveys in a population aged between 3 and 15 years, 939 cases of allergic rhinitis (11.94%) were identified, with 53% belonging to the female gender. The symptom with the highest prevalence was cold-induced nasal congestion (56.8%), followed by rhinitis accompanied by ocular symptoms (35.8%) and recurrent flu-like symptoms (20), which was the most common symptom in allergic rhinitis (100%).

Conclusions:

A significant variation was observed in the prevalence of symptoms, notably higher than that of questionnaire-obtained allergic rhinitis diagnosis (11.94%), which suggests that the independent prevalence of symptoms is not a good parameter to detect the prevalence of allergic rhinitis.

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