Chronic sinusitis promotes onset of other diseases or is an indicator of systemic disease process

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) has a broad range of co-morbidities.

This case-control study within the longitudinal cohort of primary care patients evaluated incident disease over 5 years in newly diagnosed CRS with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) and without nasal polyps (CRSsNP).


Left-sided maxillary sinusitis (absence of the air transparency of left maxillar sinus). Image source: Wikipedia, public domain.

CRSsNP (n=3612) cases were at greater risk for:

- upper airway diseases, including adenotonsillitis (HR 3.29)
- lower aerodigestive tract diseases, including asthma (2.69)
- epithelial conditions, including atopic dermatitis (2.75)
- hypertension (1.38)

CRSwNP (n=241) cases were at greater risk for:

- obesity (1.74), but CRSwNP was not associated with other diseases

The risk of other diseases associated with CRS adds to the burden of an already highly burdensome condition, and suggests either that CRS promotes onset of other diseases or is an indicator of systemic disease processes.



References:

Five-year risk of incident disease following a diagnosis of chronic rhinosinusitis. Hirsch AG et al. Allergy. 2015 Aug 31. doi: 10.1111/all.12759. [Epub ahead of print]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26332371