How to get relief from Pollen-allergy?

Allergic rhinitis: A global health issue
About 40% of world’s population or three billion people suffer from hay fever, or
allergic rhinitis (AR), which is a risk factor for asthma and other chronic upper-airway
diseases.1 This makes allergic rhinitis a major global health issue. The problem is,
however, often neglected – partly because it is hard to estimate the direct costs of the
disease and partly because people generally consider pollen allergies a nuisance rather
than a chronic disease. It’s time to take pollen allergies seriously. Billions of work and
school days are lost, productivity and performance are significantly reduced, and a lot
of money is spent on healthcare.

Pollen allergies on the rise
Seasonal allergic rhinitis varies around the globe, but generally lasts between two and
four months. Increasingly, more people are being affected by seasonal allergies; one study
indicates that, by 2050, the number of allergy sufferers in Europe will double while in
Japan the number will rise by 40%.2 Surprisingly, city dwellers are those that may be most
affected by rising pollen levels due to the increase in temperatures and air pollution; about
92% of the world’s population lives in areas where the air pollutants exceed World Health
Organization limits.

Dietary changes, improvements in personal hygiene and building heating and ventilation
systems, and a decline in physical activity are among the various theories for the growing
number of hay fever sufferers.

Climate change, which makes the pollen season both longer
and more intense, and air pollution, which exacerbates the effects of allergic rhinitis, are
also contributing factors.

Monitoring pollen levels and air quality has therefore become
increasingly important with regard to minimizing the health effects of allergic rhinitis.

The high cost of hay fever
Millions of workdays and school days are lost due to pollen allergies. The U.K. estimates
that adults of working age who suffer from hay fever miss 29 million days of work each year.
While it’s difficult to quantify an exact number, the total cost of hay fever on society is huge.
To put the costs into perspective, consider this. An average hay fever sufferer costs society
about €950, or $1,200, according to a recent study in Sweden. This takes into account
direct costs for physician visits, medications, ambulatory care, hospitalization and related
expenses as well as indirect costs, including lost work days, decreased productivity, and the
inability to perform daily activities. For a country like Sweden, which had a population of
9.5 million in 2013 at the time of the study, the total annual cost of allergic rhinitis for its 2.3
million pollen-allergy-sufferers amounted to €1.3 billion or $1.8 billion.
Then consider the projected increase in the numbers of allergy sufferers worldwide and
the rising costs of treating allergic rhinitis, which has doubled in the U.S. over a five-year
period according to the World Allergy Organization.