RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Nasal cytology in a easy-to apply method to differentiate rhinitis phenotypes from a physiopathogenic and diagnostic perspective. There are controversies about the relationship between clinical severity of rhinitis and inflammatory patterns expressed in the nasal cytology. OBJECTIVES: To study the characteristic of the eosinophil and neutrophil patterns in the nasal scraping for Allergic Rhinitis (AR) and Non Allergic Rhinitis (NAR) and its relationship with the clinical grades of rhinitis established by the Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthama Guideline (ARIA) Methods: In a observational, cross-sectional study we included patients aged 5 to 18 years presenting symptoms of either allergic (AR) or non- allergic rinitis (NAR) without asthma. Cytology was performed by analyzing nasal scraping obtained from the mucosal surface of the inferior turbinate and samples were stained using thr hematoxylin and eosin stain procedure. Inflammatory patterns between AR and NAR and between clinical grades of rhinitis classified by ARIA guide were compared. RESULTS: A total of 231 patients were included. Patients with AR exhibited higher percentage of eosinophils in nasal cytology than those with NAR (p = 0.0012) but no differences were observed in neutrophil count (p = 0.4011). No differences in the percentage of eosinophils and neutrophils between different grades of AR (p = 0.7342 and p = 0.0797 respectively) and NAR (p = 0.1010 and p = 0.1422 respectively) were observed. CONCLUSION: Eosinophil count in the nasal cytology was useful to differentiate rhinitis with a positive allergen skin test from rhinitis with negative skin test, but as neutrophils count, does not help to distinguish clinical grades of AR and NAR as classified by ARIA.