Table 1: Characteristics of patients with seasonal (ragweed) rhinoconjunctivitis entered into study comparing fluticasone nasal spray with terfenadine tablets as first-line treatment
Characteristic	Treatment group; no. of patients*
	Fluticasone n = 31	Terfenadine n = 30
Sex (male/female)	15/16	16/14
Mean age (and SD†), yr	41.0 (11.4)	45.7 (10.5)
Mean diameter (and SD) of wheals after duplicate skin­prick test with 5 concentrations of ragweed pollen extract	3.77 (1.23)	3.77 (1.26)
Severity of hay fever symptoms the previous year    Mild    Moderate    Severe	14 12 5	11 12 7
Medications taken for hay fever the previous year    Antihistamine alone    Nasal steroid alone    Antihistamine + nasal steroid	16 6 9	10 11 9
Skin sensitivity to fungal spores	13	15
Skin sensitivity to grass pollen	25	23
No previous experience in clinical studies	8	7
Nasal steroid used within 6 weeks before randomization	0	2
*Unless otherwise stated. †SD = standard deviation.

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