Effect of Health Promotion on Allergic Rhinitis by Infrared-C Ray Irradiation
Condition: Allergic Rhinitis
MeSH terms: Rhinitis; Rhinitis, Allergic
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Allergic rhinitis is one of the chronic illnesses. At present, the major treatments for
      allergic rhinitis are avoiding allergens, medical treatment and surgery. However, inadequate
      effects, and possible side effects of these treatments are still problems to these patients.
      Therefore, to find an effective non-medical and non-surgical treatment will be of great help
      in treating patients with allergic rhinitis.

      Infrared-C (far-infrared) ray irradiation is able to promote normal operation of autonomic
      nervous system, to improve blood circulation and thereby assumed to relieve discomfort
      symptoms of patients with vascular, specific or non-specific allergic rhinitis. Consequently,
      infrared-C ray irradiation is expected to be effective for the treatment of allergic
      rhinitis.

      The investigators aimed to probe the adjunct effects of infrared-C ray irradiation in terms
      of infrared-C hot compress in improving allergy symptoms like sneezing, rhinorrhea, nasal
      obstruction, nose and conjunctiva itching during a medical treatment for patients with
      allergic rhinitis. Moreover, the impact of infrared-C irradiation on health and life quality
      enhancement will also be studied.
    

Detailed description: 
      This is a quasi-experimental design. The study subjects are recruited from patients visited
      to a Ear-Nose-Throat Out Patient Department in a regional teaching hospital in south Taiwan.
      The sampling method is purposive sampling. The inclusion criteria are adults between 20 and
      50 year-old with a definite clinical diagnosis of allergic rhinitis. Subjects were randomly
      divided into experimental and control groups. Thirty persons in the experimental group
      received both medical and infrared-C ray irradiation by hot compress as intervention. On the
      other hand, twenty persons in the control group took only medical treatment. Patients in
      experimental group received anti-histamine, steroid nasal spray and infrared-C ray
      irradiation for 40 minutes each time, and more than three times per week. The regions for hot
      compress included head, neck and shoulder, back and lower back, which covered many
      acupuncture points frequently used by traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of
      allergic rhinitis, including point Dazhui (GV14), Dingchuan (EX-B1) , Dazhu (BL11), Fengmen
      (BL12), Feishu (BL13), Pishu (BL20), and Shenshu (BL23). In addition, patients also received
      infrared-C hot compress over face, eyes and nose during acute stage of allergic rhinitis. The
      investigators used a questionnaire as a pre-test to collect basic information of the
      subjects, and Taiwan's Sino-Nasal Outcome Test-20 (SNOT-20) nose and sinusitis evaluation
      form as pre-middle and post-test to evaluate the effect of the interventions. World Health
      Organization Quality of Life Instruments (WHOQOL-BREF) and Taiwan's concise edition of WHOQOL
      II questionnaire were also used as basic data collection tools for allergic rhinitis.
      Furthermore, blood tests for patient's serum Immunoglobulin E (IgE) and eosinophil cationic
      protein levels were determined before and after experiment. Pre-test for the experimental and
      control group was carried out before the intervention, the first post-test was performed 4
      weeks later, and the second post-test was carried out 12 weeks later. Data was analyzed by
      SPSS 22.0 software.
    

Intervention name(s): infrared-C ray irradiation; eye mask; Xyzal Oral Product; Fluticasone Furoate
Intervention type(s): Device; Device; Drug; Drug
Intervention description(s): Infrared-C irradiation by hot compress with a powered heating compress; infrared-C irradiation by hot compress with a powered heating eye mask; used to relieve allergy symptoms, It works by blocking histamine that body secretes during an allergic reaction.; used to treat seasonal and perennial allergic rhinitis. It also helps to reduce the symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinitis.
Other intervention name(s): infrared-C hot compress; Long Chi; Anti-histamine; Steroid nasa spray
Intervention MeSH terms: Fluticasone; Xhance; Histamine
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: The sampling method is purposive sampling. The inclusion criteria are adults between 20 and 50 year-old with a definite clinical diagnosis of allergic rhinitis. Subjects were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. Thirty persons in the experimental group received both medical and infrared-C irradiation as intervention. On the other hand, twenty persons in the control group received only medical treatment. Patients in experimental group received anti-histamine, steroid nasal spray and infrared-C irradiation by hot compress for 40 minutes per time, and more than three times per week. The regions of hot compress included head, neck and shoulder, back and lower back, which covered many acupuncture points frequently used by traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of allergic rhinitis. In addition, patients also received hot compress over face, eyes and nose during acute stage of allergic rhinitis.
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: far-infrared radiation; allergic rhinitis; IgE; eosinophil cationic protein; Taiwanese version of the 20-item Sinonasal Outcome Test; WHOQOL-BREF