EPIDEMIOLOGIC RELATIONSHIP OF CLINICAL NASAL ALLERGY TO EOSINOPHILS AND TO GOBLET CELLS IN NASAL SMEAR

Three hundred and fifty-four Vancouver primary school children were studied. Half had a hearing loss and half were control subjects with normal hearing. A trained nonmedical interviewer presented a precoded questionnaire of allergy symptoms to their mothers, and a pediatric allergist examined the children's noses for signs of allergy. Two nasal smears were made from each and were numbered consecutively. One was stained by Hansel's and the other by Papanicolaou's method. A technician scored the former positively if there were 10 eosinophils per high power field in any 2 high power fields and the latter positively if 6 goblet cells were found in the entire slide. There was a highly significant association between clinical evidence of nasal allergy and a nasal secretion eosinophilia. No significant association could be found between clinical evidence of nasal allergy and goblet cells or between eosinophils and goblet cells. The presence of goblet cells does not appear to help in making the diagnosis of nasal allergy in children. © 1969.