Socioeconomic, comorbidity, lifestyle and quality of life comparisons between chronic rhinosinusitis phenotypes: Data from the National Chronic Rhinosinusitis Epidemiology Study

Background: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a heterogenous group of inflammatory sinonasal disorders with key defining symptoms, but traditionally separated into phenotypes by clinical/endoscopic findings. It is not known if the two phenotypes have differing socioeconomic, co-morbidity and lifestyle differences. Objective: This analysis of the Chronic Rhinosinusitis Epidemiology Study (CRES) database sought to analyse any key differences in the socioeconomic variables between those with CRS with nasal polyps (CRSwNPs) and those without nasal polyps (CRSsNP). We also sought to analyse differences in comorbidities, lifestyle and quality of life. Methods: Patients with a confirmed diagnosis of CRS in secondary and tertiary care outpatient settings were invited to participate in a questionnaire based case-control study. Variables included demographics, comorbidities, socioeconomic factors, lifestyle factors and health related quality of life. Results: A total of 1204 patients’ data were analysed; 553 CRSsNP and 651 CRSwNP participants. The key socioeconomic variables did not demonstrate any notable differences, nor did lifestyle variables other than alcohol consumption being higher in those with CRSwNP (p=0.032). Aside from confirmation of asthma being more common in CRSwNP, it was notable that this group complained less of URTIs and CRSsNP participants showed evidence of lower HRQoL scores in respect of body pain (p=0.001). Conclusions: Patients with CRSwNP experience higher rates of asthma and lower rates of URTIs but otherwise do not demonstrate significant socioeconomic, comorbidity, lifestyle or quality of life issues other than for body pain and alcohol consumption.