The World Health Organizatin declares chronic respiratory diseases as one of the 4 major health
problems of mankind. Allergic rhiniti (AR) and chronic rhinosinusiti (CRS) affct more than 30% of
the populatin worldwide. The socio-economic impact of chronic upper airway diseases is estiat-
ed in Europe with more than 150 billion Euro per year. Unmet needs in the fild of AR and CRS can
be identiid in several domains: educatin, research, development and clinical care. In additin,
the huge socioeconomic burden of AR and CRS to health care systems is expected to substantilly
increase in the future, warrantig new policies in healthcare at the global and natinal level.
To tackle the huge global health problem of chronic upper airways inflmmatin, the EAACI de-
cided to develop the “Global Atlas of Allergic Rhiniti and Chronic Rhinosinusiti” as a follow up
of the “Global Atlas of Allergy” and “Global Atlas of Asthma” which were launched in 2013 and
2014, had a huge success worldwide, and are currently translated into several languages. With
this Atlas, EAACI and the authors of the Atlas aim to increase awareness on the global epidemic
and the burden of chronic inflmmatory upper airways diseases and to bring to the global attention
the need to be recognized as a main concern in natinal health strategies; to reinforce the role of early diagnosis and treatment, education and prevention in a structured management strategy; to
reveal their priority for research; to provide guidance on how to overcome barriers; to expand the existing programs and tools and explore innovative solutions for a comprehensive global management approach.
The EAACI Global Atlas of Allergic Rhinitis and Chronic Rhinosinusitis contains 154 chapters writ-
ten by 218 authors with 269 illustrations and 92 tables. It is developed as a desktop reference for multisectoral usage covering all aspects of AR and CRS from epidemiology, risk factors and molecular and cellular mechanisms to their management, clinical features and co-morbiditis, diagnosis, treatment, preventin and control. In additin, the Atlas will offr an educatinal tool and a desktop reference for medical students, allied health workers, primary care physicians, pharmacists, medical industry, policy makers, patint organizatins and specialists dealing with AR and CRS. We would like to thank all of the authors for their contributins.