The impact of chronic rhinosinusitis and nasal polyposis in quality of life.

Multiple studies indicated that chronic rhinosinusitis is associated with a dramatic reduction in patient quality of life. The presence of asthma and atopy may have cumulative and negative impact on quality of life. To assess quality of life, specific and generic questionnaires may be used. Specific questionnaires are usually focused on one particular area such as a disease state, a selected population, or a certain function or problem. Generic questionnaires are also available to assess the burden of illness in different conditions and enable the comparison of patients suffering from chronic rhinosinusitis with other patient groups. On the basis of our review of the existing questionnaires concerning rhinosinusitis, we identified two adequate levels of discriminant validity the RSOM-31 and RhinoQol. The SF-36 is one of the most widely used generic questionnaires in chronic rhinosinusitis.