Who gets hay fever?
Hay fever is very common. It affects 2 in 10 people in the United Kingdom. It often first develops in school age children and during the teenage years. Symptoms return for a season each year, but it eventually goes away or improves in many cases (often after having had symptoms each season for several years). Hay fever tends to run in families. You are also more likely to develop hay fever if you already have asthma or eczema. Equally, if you have hay fever, you are more likely to develop eczema or asthma. The conditions asthma, eczema and hay fever are known together as ‘atopic’ conditions or ‘atopy’. A tendency to atopy can run in families. What are the symptoms of hay fever? The symptoms of hay fever can vary from person to person. Some people only have mild symptoms that tend to come and go. Others can be severely affected with symptoms that are present every day during the pollen season. • Common symptoms – These include a runny and itchy nose, a blocked nose, sneezing, itchy and
