Abstract:Objective To describe the differences between allergic rhinitis (AR) and nonallergic rhinitis (NAR). Methods The differences between AR and NAR were assessed using disease survey, skin prick test (SPT), nasal smear and serum total IgE, in 1647 patients with rhinitis. Results A total of 72.4% of the subjects with rhinitis had AR, whereas 27.6% had NAR. The onset ages were significantly different between AR and NAR (25.8±13.5 vs 31.4±16.0, P<0.001). There was significantly seasonal diversity in AR, while there was no seasonal diversity in NAR. As for the clinical symptoms, AR patients had more sneezing (88.4% vs 47.9%, P<0.001) and nasal pruritus (84.4% vs 43.6%, P<0.001), whereas NAR was characterized mainly by nasal obstruction (96.3% vs 91.2%, P<0.001) and rhinorrhea (93.5% vs 91.8%, P<0.05). The differences of eosinophil in nasal smear (50.1±33.1% vs 20.1±30.5%, P<0.001) and serum total IgE (359.7 IU/ml±323.4 IU/ml vs 123.0 IU/ml±205.6 IU/ml, P<0.001) between AR and NAR were statistically significant. Conclusion There were significant differences between AR and NAR in sex, age, seasons, clinic symptoms, eosinophil in nasal smear and serum total IgE.