Chronic Rhinosinusitis QoL Burden Compared With Other Chronic Conditions

This article is part of MPR‘s coverage of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, taking place in Orlando, Florida. Our staff will report on medical research related to asthma and other respiratory conditions, conducted by experts in the field. Check back regularly for more news from AAAAI/WAO 2018.

ORLANDO — Patients with chronic rhinosinusitis experience impairments in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) comparable with other serious chronic diseases, according to a study presented at the 2018 Joint Congress of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology/World Allergy Organization, held March 2-5, in Orlando, Florida.

Researchers conducted a literature search of studies that used the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form, 36-item (SF-36) to report HRQoL in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis and 15 other chronic disorders. They compared the 8 health domains assessed by SF-36 scores — physical functioning, physical role limitations, bodily pain, general health perception, vitality, social functioning, emotional role limitations, and mental health — on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best). Conditions included for comparison were chronic heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), angina, back pain/sciatica, migraine, cancer, cancer-related pain symptoms, incontinence, AIDS, hyperlipidemia, clinical depression, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and hepatitis.

Patients with chronic rhinosinusitis scored worse on bodily pain, general health, and mental health compared with patients with other chronic diseases. Social functioning scores were also lower (mean, 47.8 vs 52.5-87.7). Bodily pain scores (mean, 39.8) were consistent with cancer pain (mean, 39.6), incontinence (mean, 46.6), and AIDS (mean, 40.5).

Physical functioning and physical role limitation scores (mean, 87.3 and 65.3, respectively) were on par with patients with migraine (means, 82.4 and 62.2), epilepsy (means, 78.9, 60.0), and hepatitis (means, 79.3 and 56.9). Chronic rhinosinusitis and hyperlipidemia had similar mean scores for emotional role limitations (mean, 84.0 and 80.3, respectively).

“These results expand our understanding and appreciation of the serious magnitude of QoL burden suffered by patients with [chronic rhinosinusitis] relative to the burden of other chronic conditions,” the researchers concluded. “From a patient-centric perspective, [chronic rhinosinusitis] is among the ranks of serious chronic diseases and should be addressed accordingly.”

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Reference

Schenkel EJ, Messina JC Jr, Bodine A, McGinley JS, Wirth RJ, Mahmoud RA. Disease burden of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is as severe as other serious chronic diseases. Presented at: 2018 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology/World Allergy Organization Joint Congress; March 2-5, 2018; Orlando, FL. Poster 523.

This article originally appeared on Pulmonology Advisor