Serum Level of Placental Growth Hormone Is Raised in Pregnancy Rhinitis

Abstract

PREGNANCY RHINITIS is a condition frequently encountered since the first reports almost a century ago.1 The prevailing theory of its cause concerns raised estrogen levels. This is based mainly on the results of Toppozada et al2 from biopsy studies on nasal mucosa in pregnancy and from women taking contraceptive pills.3 Also considered was the fact that the early high-estrogen contraceptive pills produced nasal congestion as an adverse effect. Case reports of success with nasal application of estrogen in the treatment of atrophic rhinitis also have been used as support for the estrogen theory. Although estrogen receptors have been shown to exist in nasal mucosa,4 other-than-direct effects of estrogen have been suggested, eg, by histamine release, cyclic adenosine monophosphate production, or a separate eosinophil receptor system.5 On the basis of a rather small number of patients, Bende et al6 favor a proposed theory of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide release by nasal nerves, causing nasal congestion during pregnancy.