Pollen Exposure and Chronic Rhinosinusitis Quality of Life Disease Severity

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Background Environmental factors, such as air irritants, may play an important role in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS); however, no studies to date have examined the role of pollen in CRS disease severity. Here, we analyze the effects of pollen exposure on disease‐specific and general quality‐of‐life (QOL) reports. Methods Patients were enrolled prospectively across four academic medical centers and completed the 22‐item SinoNasal Outcome Test (SNOT‐22) and Medical Outcomes Study Questionnaire Short‐Form 6‐D (SF‐6D) surveys at enrollment. Mean annual pollen exposure over a 5‐year period before enrollment was obtained from the National Allergy Bureau using residence zip codes. Unadjusted Spearman's correlation coefficients ( r s ) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Results One hundred and three patients were included and 55% had a history of allergy. Higher 5‐year mean ragweed pollen exposure correlated with worse presenting SNOT‐22 ( r s = 0.24; 95% CI: 0.033, 0.42; p = 0.019) and SF‐6D scores ( r s = −0.21; 95% CI: −0.40, −0.0054; p = 0.039). Higher 5‐year weed pollen exposure correlated with worse SNOT‐22 scores ( r s = 0.20; 95% CI: 0.00054, 0.38; p = 0.043). Conclusion This multi‐institutional pilot study suggests that weed and ragweed pollen may negatively impact the QOL of patients with CRS, but further studies are needed to confirm these findings. Level of Evidence 3. Trial Registration Clinical trial registration ID: NCT02720653 ( www.clinicaltrials.gov )