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Eva Ellegård, MD; Jan Oscarsson, MD, PhD; Mohammed Bougoussa; Ahmed Igout, PhD; Georges Hennen, MD, PhD; Staffan Edén, MD, PhD; Göran Karlsson, MD, PhD

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1998;124:439-443.

Objective  To describe any relationship between pregnancy rhinitis and weight gain or serum levels of estradiol, progesterone, placental growth hormone, or insulinlike growth factor I.

Patients  Twenty-seven nonsmoking healthy pregnant women aged 22 to 38 years (mean age, 28 years) who had no history of respiratory allergy or chronic nasal or sinus problems volunteered to enter the study. They had no nasal complaints at entry.

Methods  Nasal patency was registered daily from early pregnancy until 1 month after delivery. Nasal and oral peak expiratory flow rates were established, and the subjective blockage was scored from 0 to 4, with 0 indicating no blockage. Serum samples were collected and weight was measured on 4 occasions during pregnancy and again at the end of the study. Pregnancy rhinitis was diagnosed if the subjective nasal obstruction score was 1 or higher every morning for at least 6 weeks immediately preceding delivery, then returned to 0 within 2 weeks and remained at 0 until the end of the study. If on any day other signs of respiratory tract infection occurred, that day was excluded.

Results  Pregnancy rhinitis was diagnosed in 5 women. These 5 women showed significantly higher levels of placental growth hormone than the women without the diagnosis. No significant difference was found between the 2 groups regarding body weight or any of the other serum levels studied.

Conclusions  Serum level of placental growth hormone is raised in pregnancy rhinitis and may be involved in its pathogeny. Pregnancy rhinitis does not significantly raise weight gain or serum levels of estradiol, progesterone, or insulinlike growth factor I.

From the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Mölndal and Kungsbacka Hospitals (Dr Ellegård), and the Departments of Physiology (Drs Oscarsson and Edén) and Otorhinolaryngology (Dr Karlsson), Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Göteborg, Sweden; and the Department of Endocrinology, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium (Mr Bougoussa and Drs Igout and Hennen).

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Ellegard and Karlsson
Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1999;125:1121-1125.
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