New Allergy Guidelines for People Over 12 Years Old

If you or your kids suffer from allergies, I'm sure you want to know how to best manage them. In addition to limiting exposure, medications can be a big benefit. 

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology and the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI and ACAAI) have published new guidelines in the Annals of Internal Medicine for the initial medical treatment of seasonal allergies in people 12 years and older.

The recommendations essentially state:

• Use steroid nasal sprays first without an oral or nasal antihistamine. Many intranasal steroids are available over the counter without a prescription. A great list is included on the AAAAI website. (Be careful to not to confuse them with the nasal antihistamines, which are in the same chart but identified in the column titled "Class".) 
• In those over 15 years, the nasal steroid is preferred over a leukotriene receptor antagonist (ie Singulair or montelukast). For those with asthma, the leukotriene receptor antagonist might offer an additional benefit for asthma, but it is not the preferred treatment in either allergies or asthma. (I think the age change is simply due to the ages studied but it was not specified.)
• In moderate to severe allergic conditions, a combination of nasal steroid and nasal antihistamine can be considered. 

These recommendations are based on a review of many studies to show what treatments worked and what didn't. They also took into consideration the fact that oral antihistamines can cause sedation and the nasal antihistamines do not. In general the nasal steroids worked better than other treatments. They did note that for people who do not tolerate nasal sprays, alternates would be oral antihistamines or leukotriene receptor agonists.