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Volume: 49 - Issue: 4

First page: 420 - Last page: 428

P. Sahlstrand-Johnson - B. Ohlsson - C. Von Buchwald - M. Jannert - Marianne Ahlner-Elmqvist

AIMS: This study summarises the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) scores and absenteeism caused by sinus problems in patients awaiting surgery with the diagnoses recurrent acute rhinosinusitis (RARS), chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRS+NP) or CRS without nasal polyps (CRS-NP), in a prospective multi-centre study.
METHODOLOGY: Two hundred and seven patients with RARS, CRS+NP or CRS-NP were enrolled. EP3OS definitions of CRS and NP were used. The patients completed the 22 Sinonasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22), the short-form 36-item questionnaire (SF-36), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD) and a total Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) regarding rhinosinusitis symptoms.
RESULTS: SNOT-22 and VAS scores indicated severe disease. Comparison of the HRQOL scores in the three rhinosinusitis subgroups showed statistical differences in nine of the SNOT-22 items and in the SF-36 subscale of bodily pain. Mean scores of SF-36 were significantly lower than that of the normal Swedish population. According to the HAD scores, 28% of the patients had probable or possible anxiety or depression disorder. Fifty-seven percent of the patients reported absenteeism from work due to sinus problems.
CONCLUSIONS: RARS, CRS+NP and CRS-NP significantly decrease HRQOL. Some statistically significant differences in HRQOL were found between the three rhinosinusitis subgroups. Absenteeism due to chronic sinus conditions is considerable.

Rhinology 49-4: 420-428, 2011