A new study shows sinusitis in asthma patients tends to be more severe and resistant to medical treatment. However, researchers suggest patients can have dramatic improvement in symptoms when a full range of medical and surgical options is used.
In the study patients with asthma were found to have a higher incidence of nasal polyps, olfactory dysfunction, and nasal congestion compared to patients without asthma. A higher proportion of asthmatic patients also required primary sinus surgery and additional sinus surgeries compared to patients without asthma. Asthmatics failed primary sinus surgery more frequently and required a second surgery.Researchers say they do not know the exact reason for the higher frequency of failure, but the evidence shows a common abnormality in the lining of the upper and lower airway in these patients. Non-asthmatics with sinusitis however had a higher incidence of headache and nasal discharge compared to patients with asthma and the incidence of post-nasal drip and environmental allergies was similar between the two groups.
