Prevalence of sinonasal outcome test (SNOT-22) symptoms in patients undergoing surgery for chronic rhinosinusitis in the England and Wales National prospective audit.

OBJECTIVES

Review and evaluate the prevalence and severity of individual symptoms in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) with or without nasal polyposis.

DESIGN AND SETTING

Retrospective analysis of data from the National Comparative Audit of Surgery for Nasal Polyposis and CRS, carried out across 87 hospitals in England and Wales between 2000 and 2001.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 2573 patients with CRS (1784 had CRS with nasal polyposis, 789 without nasal polyposis) who had undergone sinus surgery.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Severity of clinical symptoms scores was graded on the Sino-Nasal Outcome Test 22 questionnaire. Prevalence of these symptoms and mean symptom scores were calculated for each group of patients at baseline and 3 months after surgery.

RESULTS

In both groups, nasal blockage/congestion had the highest mean symptom score, followed by altered smell/taste and then the need to blow nose. These three symptoms were the most prevalent in the group with nasal polyposis. In the group without nasal polyposis, nasal blockage was also the most prevalent individual symptom (93.5%) followed by altered smell/taste (75.7%). The third most prevalent symptom was waking up tired (69.9%). The average test score preoperatively was 41.5 (group with nasal polyposis) and 44.4 (group without nasal polyposis). This decreased to 18.3 and 14.1, respectively, 3 months after surgery (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

The leading three symptoms were nasal blockage/congestion, altered taste/smell and the need to blow the nose in terms of severity and prevalence. The total Sino-Nasal Outcome Test 22 and all individual symptom scores improved significantly after surgery.