Abstract
Objective: Evaluate the Peak Nasal Inspiratory Flow as a method of measuring nasal patency and compare the values between healthy and obstructive nasal symptoms of allergic rhinitis.
Method: A cohort with contemporary cross-sectional study, nonrandomized in a sample of 78 subjects.
Results: In simple linear regression, the PNIF shows significant results for nasal obstruction, rhinorrhea, itching, sneezing, and watery eyes (P < .0001). There was also a correlation between the presence of nasal septal deviation and PNIF (P = .561). We found a positive correlation between PNIF and the Visual Analogue Scale - VAS for nasal obstruction (P < .001). Finally, in a multiple linear regression model, statistical significance was found between the values found in PNIF with allergic rhinitis and age (P = .005 and P = .023 respectively).
Conclusion: The PNIF proved to be a reliable method for detecting changes in nasal patency by both inflammatory and obstructive causes, with an acceptable level of statistical significance, simple, easy to handle, inexpensive, and reproducible.
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