Patients with seasonal or year-round allergies occasion-ally experience such difficulty with their nasal allergies that they consider moving to another geographic location to help reduce their symptoms. Patients with seasonal hay fever will often find that many of the seasonal pollens and/or molds that bother them in their current home will also be present in areas they are considering moving to.
One exception may be ragweed pollen, which is much more commonly seen at high levels east of the Rocky Mountains. With respect to perennial allergens, house dust mites are found in much higher quantities in areas with outdoor relative humidity greater than 45% (particularly near bodies of water), while they tend to be sparse in areas of lower humidity (in deserts and mountains). Therefore, if a patient is primarily allergic to mites, moving to a more arid climate with low levels of dust mites might theoretically improve symptoms.
However, other factors, such as air pollution, extremes in outdoor temperature, and the effect of dry air, may also contribute to nasal symptoms in an unpredictable way, thereby making it difficult to categorically recommend a change in location.