Rhinophototherapy, an alternative treatment of allergic rhinitis: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Introduction: Allergic rhinitis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the nasal mucosa, mediated by immunoglobulin E, affecting 1 in 6 individuals. The treatment aims at attaining symptomatic control with minimal side effects, a requirement for new alternative therapies, including phototherapy, as it has an immunosuppressive and immunomodulatory effect.

Objective: To identify the effectiveness of phototherapy in the treatment of allergic rhinitis through a meta-analysis.

Methods: We searched Web of Science, Scielo, PubMed, SCOPUS, PEDro, and LILACS databases, using the terms: "intranasal irradiation", "phototherapy" and "allergic rhinitis". The R software Metafor package was used for the meta-analysis and the effect size was calculated for each symptom individually.

Results: All symptoms decreased considerably after phototherapy: rhinorrhea (ES• = -1.35; p < 0.0001; I² = 91.84%), sneezing (ES• = -1.24; p < 0.0001; I² = 91.43%), nasal pruritus (ES• = -1.10; p < 0.0001; I² = 91.43%); nasal obstruction (ES• = -1.11; p < 0.0001; I² = 91.88%). The effects were more significant in perennial allergic rhinitis than in the seasonal type.

Conclusion: Considering the effect size and the statistical significance attained in our study, rhinophototherapy showed to be an effective treatment for reducing the nasal symptom scores triggered by AR.

Keywords: Allergic rhinitis; Hay fever; Intranasal irradiation; Phototherapy; Rhinophototherapy.