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Master thesis of Viktorija Balčiūnaitė. Allergic Diseases and Their Symptoms in The Older Age Patients. Aim of the study. Evaluate peculiarities of allergic diseases’ course and frequency of characteristic symptoms of allergic diseases in the elderly. Objective. 1. Determine the incidence rate of allergic diseases among hospitalized patients. 2. Determine the frequency of allergic disease related symptoms and the peculiarities of their progression among elderly patients. 3. Evaluate the relationship between allergy related symptoms and other diseases of the elderly. 4. Assess relationship between the symptoms of allergic diseases and potential risk factors. Methods and participants: A randomized survey of elderly patients (over 65 y/o) undergoing treatment at Kaunas Clinical and Šiauliai Republican Hospitals from November 2017 to March 2018 was conducted A brief evaluation of the patients’ mental state (MMSE) was performed prior to the survey. An adapted questionnaire (The European Community Respiratory Health Questionnaire) was filled out for those whose MMSE score exceeded 20 points. All data was collected and processed using Excel 2013 and the statistical data analysis program SPSS v.23.0. Results: 97 women (55.4%) and 78 men (44.6%) were interviewed, with an average age of 72.42 ± 7.59 years. Only 7.4% (n = 13) had previously diagnosed allergic disorder. Most frequent complaint was skin pruritus (25.1%, n = 44) and upper respiratory disease symptoms: nasal congestion (24.0%, n = 42) and rhinorrhoea (20.0%, n = 35). A medium correlation of Spearman correlation was observed in rhinorrhoea (r = 0.413, p = 0.021), nasal congestion (r = 0.409, p = 0.008) and skin pruritus (r = 0.461, p = 0.002). The number of symptoms characteristic of allergic diseases correlated with the number of concomitant diseases (r = 0.418, p |
