Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Helsinki University Hospital, Kasarmikatu 11-13, 00029 Helsinki, Finland.
Weather and Climate Change Impact Research, Finnish Meteorological Institute, 00560 Helsinki, Finland.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jun 14;18(12):6428. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18126428.
Seasonal variation in exacerbations, hospitalisations, and mortality statistics has been reported for some diseases. To our knowledge, however, no published studies exist on the seasonality of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) amongst rhinologic patients.
AIMS/OBJECTIVES: This study, therefore, aimed to investigate the possible seasonal variation in rhinologic patients' HRQoL using the rhinologic disease-specific Sino-Nasal Outcome Test-22 (SNOT-22) and the generic 15D HRQoL instrument.
We enrolled unselected adult rhinologic patients requiring specialist care at the Helsinki University Hospital in this cross-sectional, questionnaire-based prospective study during four seasons: February (winter), May (spring), August (summer), and November (autumn). Patients received SNOT-22 and 15D questionnaires via post. The Finnish Meteorological Institute supplied climate data from these months.
SNOT-22 and 15D data were available for 301 and 298 patients, respectively. We found no statistically significant differences ( = 0.948) between the mean monthly 15D scores or mean SNOT-22 scales. Furthermore, the mean SNOT-22 subscales did not differ between the monthly study periods.
Our study shows that seasonality did not impact rhinologic patients' SNOT-22 or 15D HRQoL scores. Thus, these questionnaires can be used for follow-up amongst rhinologic patients regardless of season.
一些疾病的恶化、住院和死亡率统计数据已经有季节性变化的报道。然而，据我们所知，目前还没有关于鼻科患者健康相关生活质量（HRQoL）季节性的研究。
目的/目标：因此，本研究旨在使用鼻科疾病特异性 Sino-Nasal Outcome Test-22（SNOT-22）和通用 15D HRQoL 工具，调查鼻科患者 HRQoL 可能存在的季节性变化。
我们在这项横断面、基于问卷的前瞻性研究中，招募了在赫尔辛基大学医院需要专科治疗的未选择的成年鼻科患者，研究在四个季节进行：二月（冬季）、五月（春季）、八月（夏季）和十一月（秋季）。患者通过邮寄收到 SNOT-22 和 15D 问卷。芬兰气象局提供了这些月份的气候数据。
SNOT-22 和 15D 数据分别可用于 301 名和 298 名患者。我们发现 15D 评分或 SNOT-22 量表的平均每月得分之间没有统计学上的显著差异（=0.948）。此外，每月研究期间 SNOT-22 子量表的平均值没有差异。
我们的研究表明，季节性变化并未影响鼻科患者的 SNOT-22 或 15D HRQoL 评分。因此，无论季节如何，这些问卷都可以用于鼻科患者的随访。
