Allergy Asthma Immunol Res.  2014 Jul;6(4):310-315. 10.4168/aair.2014.6.4.310.

Influence of Chronic Sinusitis and Nasal Polyp on the Lower Airway of Subjects Without Lower Airway Diseases

• Lee SY
• Yoon SH
• Song WJ
• Lee SH
• Kang HR
• Kim SS
• Cho SH

• KMID: 2260211
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4168/aair.2014.6.4.310

Abstract

PURPOSE
Upper and lower respiratory tract pathologies are believed to be interrelated; however, the impact of upper airway inflammation on lung function in subjects without lung disease has not been evaluated. This study investigated the association of CT finding suggesting chronic sinusitis and lung function in healthy subjects without lung disease.
METHODS
This was a retrospective study of prospectively collected data from 284 subjects who underwent a pulmonary function test, bronchial provocation test, rhinoscopy, and osteomeatal unit computed tomography offered as a private health check-up option.
RESULTS
CT findings showed that the sinusitis group had a significantly lower FEV1/FVC ratio than subjects without sinusitis finding (78.62% vs 84.19%, P=0.019). Among the sinusitis group, subjects classified by CT findings as the extensive disease group had a slightly lower FEV1/FVC than those of the limited disease group (76.6% vs 79.5%, P=0.014) and the associations were independent of the presence of airway hyperresponsiveness. The subjects with nasal polyp had also lower FEV1 and FEV1/FVC than subjects without nasal polyp (FEV1: 100.0% vs 103.6%, P=0.045, FEV1/FVC: 77.4% vs 80.0%, P=0.005).
CONCLUSIONS
CT findings suggesting chronic sinusitis and nasal polyp were associated with subclinical lower airway flow limitation even in the absence of underlying lung disease.

Keyword

Bronchial hyperresponsiveness; computed tomography; nasal polyp; pulmonary function test; sinusitis

MeSH Terms

Bronchial Provocation Tests
Inflammation
Lung
Lung Diseases
Nasal Polyps*
Pathology
Prospective Studies
Respiratory Function Tests
Respiratory System
Retrospective Studies
Sinusitis*

Figure

• 

  Figure Patients' lung function according to the presence of sinusitis and nasal polyp. (A) Patients with both sinusitis and nasal polyp showed lower FEV1 than normal subjects. (B) FVC showed no difference between three groups. (C) FEV1/FVC of patients with both sinusitis and nasal polyp were significantly lower than that of patients with only sinusitis or normal subjects.

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