Voice-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Chronic Rhinosinusitis

2020 ◽  
Vol 129 (10) ◽  
pp. 983-987
Author(s):  
Arthur W. Wu ◽  
Evan S. Walgama ◽  
Michela Borrelli ◽  
James Mirocha ◽  
Anca M. Barbu ◽  
...  

Objective: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) has long been associated with vocal dysfunction. However, studies quantifying the presence of voice dysfunction in CRS patients or the effects of functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) are sparse. The goal of this study was to determine the voice-related quality of life in patients undergoing FESS for CRS using the validated Voice Related Quality of Life Survey (VRQL). We correlated the preoperative VRQL scores to the Sino-Nasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22) scores, and we determined the effect of FESS on postoperative VRQL scores. Methods: Consecutive patients undergoing FESS were preoperatively administered both the VRQL and the SNOT-22 surveys. Spearman (ρ) and Pearson ( r) correlation coefficients were calculated. The VRQL was mailed to patients postoperatively between 3 and 6 months. The paired t-test was used to compare pre- and post-FESS scores. Results: A total of 102 patients were enrolled, and 81 patients completed the two surveys. A total of 51 (62.9%) patients had raw VRQL score ≥ 10, signifying presence of significant vocal symptoms. The mean ± standard deviation (SD) raw VRQL score of the entire study population was 12.4 ± 4.6, and the mean SNOT-22 score was 37.8 ± 19.2. The Spearman correlation coefficient between VRQL and the total SNOT-22 score was 0.34 ( P =.002), and the Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.36 ( P = .001). Both correlations were similar, demonstrating that increasing severity of CRS symptoms correlates with decreasing voice-related quality of life (QOL). Seventy patients completed the postoperative survey for an 86% retention rate. Thirty-six of these patients had abnormal preoperative VRQL scores, and these patients improved significantly after FESS. The mean preoperative versus postoperative raw scores were 15.2 ± 5.6 versus 12.5 ± 4.1, respectively ( P = .003). Conclusion: This study demonstrates the increasing presence of vocal complaints with increasing severity of CRS. It also demonstrates that VRQL scores improve after FESS in those patients with preoperative vocal complaints. Level of Evidence: IV

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Mehrnoosh Musavi Aghdas ◽  
Nikzad Shahidi ◽  
Daryoush Sheikhzadeh ◽  
Maryam Ebrahimzadeh

Background: Chronic rhinosinusitis is one of the most common diseases in the world. The high prevalence and chronicity of disease increasing burden of disease. Burden of this disease, productivity and the quality of life of patients decreased. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of endoscopic sinus surgery on the quality of life of patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis.Method: This prospective study was performed on 59 patients suffering chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis referring to ENT clinic of educational hospital of Tabriz University of medical sciences during 2015 to 2017. These patients underwent Endoscopic Sinus Surgery as treatment. For all patients, SINO-NASAL OUTCOME (TEST) (SNOT-22) was completed before and twelve months after surgery.Results:  Fifty-nine patients were enrolled in this study. 21 were female (35.6%) and 38 were male (64.40%). The mean age of the studied population was 40.88 ± 16.11 years. The mean score of the preoperative score was 59.38 ± 5.84 and the mean score of the postoperative score was 24.01 ± 10.48. The results of the statistical analysis showed that endoscopic surgery reduced The SNOT-22 questionnaire score is significant. (P < 0.000). The results of the test showed that the increase in preoperative score increases the gain after surgery. (Spearman correlation coefficient: 0.419 and P: 0.001)Conclusion: Endoscopic sinus surgery seems to improve the symptoms and quality of Life in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis. 


2021 ◽  
pp. 194589242098743
Author(s):  
Nyssa F. Farrell ◽  
Jess C. Mace ◽  
David A. Sauer ◽  
Andrew J. Thomas ◽  
Mathew Geltzeiler ◽  
...  

Background Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is often differentiated by histopathologic phenotypes (eosinophilic versus neutrophilic), which may impact disease severity measures and outcomes. As such, it has been suggested that counts of cellular elements be included as part of a standard pathological report following endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS). Objectives This cross-sectional study evaluated associations of mucosal eosinophilia and neutrophilia with measures of quality-of-life (QoL) and olfactory function. Methods Patients with medically refractory CRS completed the SNOT-22 survey and Brief Smell Identification Test (BSIT) at enrollment. In addition, baseline Lund-Mackay computed tomography (CT) and Lund-Kennedy endoscopy scores were collected. Ethmoid mucosa was biopsied during ESS and reviewed using microscopy to quantify densest infiltrate of eosinophils or neutrophils per high-powered-field (HPF). Eosinophilic CRS (eCRS) and neutrophilic CRS (nCRS), both with and without nasal polyposis (NP), were compared across SNOT-22 and BSIT scores. Results 77/168 patients demonstrated mucosal eosinophilia (eCRS) while a total of 42/168 patients demonstrated mucosal neutrophilia (nCRS). After adjusting for polyp status, 35/168 had eCRSsNP, 42/168 eCRSwNP, 75/168 non-eCRSsNP, 16/168 non-eCRSwNP. Additionally, 22/161 were noted to have nCRSsNP, 20/161 nCRSwNP, 84/161 non-nCRSwNP, and 35/161 non-nCRSsNP. A small subset of patients demonstrated both eosinophilia and neutrophilia: 14 CRSwNP and 7 CRSsNP. When evaluating average Lund-Mackay Scores (LMS), significant differences existed between non-eCRSsNP and eCRSsNP (p = 0.006). However, after controlling for nasal polyps, eosinophilia did not significantly associate with differences in the Lund-Kennedy Score. Neutrophilia did not significantly associate with any changes in LMS or LKS after controlling for NP. Eosinophilic and neutrophilic histopathologic subtypes did not significantly associate with differences in baseline SNOT-22 or BSIT measures after controlling for NP. Conclusion Neither the presence of mucosal eosinophilia nor mucosal neutrophilia demonstrated significant associations with SNOT-22 quality-of-life or BSIT olfactory function scores when controlling for comorbid nasal polyposis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 128 (12) ◽  
pp. 1129-1133
Author(s):  
Danny B. Jandali ◽  
Ashwin Ganti ◽  
Inna A. Husain ◽  
Pete S. Batra ◽  
Bobby A. Tajudeen

Objectives: Functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) is a standard treatment modality for patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) who have failed appropriate medical therapy. However, FESS entails modification of the upper airway tract that may alter phonatory resonance and produce voice changes. The effects of FESS on postoperative voice characteristics in patients with CRS have yet to be quantitatively assessed. Methods: Patients with severe CRS who underwent FESS at a tertiary care referral center between May and October 2017 were prospectively enrolled. The Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-V) and the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) were used to quantitatively evaluate voice characteristics and quality of life, respectively. Preoperative and postoperative CAPE-V and VHI scores were compared with postoperative scores for each patient. Sino-Nasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22) scores were also obtained to assess changes in patient symptoms. Results: 18 CRS patients undergoing FESS were enrolled. The average preoperative Lund-Mackay score was 14, indicating baseline severe CRS. Postoperative assessments demonstrated a statistically significant decrease in CAPE-V (45-27, p = .005) and VHI (10-4.7, p < .001) scores. These correlated with a statistically significant decrease in SNOT-22 scores (42-13, p < .001). Conclusions: Patients with CRS experience a significant improvement in voice characteristics and vocal quality of life following FESS. Furthermore, this appears to correlate with a significant decrease in self-reported disease severity. These findings may augment the discussion of potential benefits of FESS to a new potential domain for voice quality.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-169
Author(s):  
Jesse R. Qualliotine ◽  
Aria Jafari ◽  
Sarek Shen ◽  
Jeffrey D. Bernstein ◽  
Adam S. DeConde

Background Concha bullosa (CB) is a prevalent anatomic variant and frequent surgical target in endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS). However, whether CB impacts quality-of-life (QOL) in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is not well established. The purpose of this study was to investigate baseline and post-ESS QOL differences in patients with medically recalcitrant CRS with and without CB. Methods Demographic and surgical characteristics, baseline and postoperative 22-item Sino-Nasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22) scores for 137 patients with CRS who underwent primary ESS at our institution were recorded. Computed tomography (CT) scans were reviewed for Lund–Mackay score and presence of CB. Multiplanar CT was used to measure CB dimensions and estimate volume. Multivariable analysis was performed to identify differences in SNOT-22 overall and symptom-domain scores between patients with upper quartile (≥0.8 mL) CB and without CB. Results CB was found in 37% of patients with mean volume of 0.67 mL. There were no significant differences in distribution of clinicodemographic variables by large CB status. At baseline, large CB was associated with higher SNOT-22 extranasal-rhinologic domain score (9.8 vs 6.0, P < .01). Following ESS, patients with large CB reported greater improvement in SNOT-22 extranasal-rhinologic domain score (multivariable mean absolute improvement 3.8, P = .01; relative 56% vs 30%). Conclusion Patients with medically recalcitrant CRS and concomitant large CB have higher SNOT-22 extranasal-rhinologic domain scores at baseline, but also report greater intradomain improvement exceeding the subdomain’s mean clinically important difference. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that CB has a clinically significant impact on QOL in CRS, and surgical intervention may be helpful to address these symptoms.


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 532-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur W. Wu ◽  
Evan S. Walgama ◽  
Thomas S. Higgins ◽  
Michela Borrelli ◽  
Narine Vardanyan ◽  
...  

Background Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) has long been a suspected risk factor for Eustachian tube dysfunction (ETD). However, there have been few studies quantifying the presence of ETD in CRS patients. We sought to determine the prevalence of ETD symptoms in patients undergoing functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) for CRS using the validated 7-item Eustachian Tube Dysfunction Questionnaire (ETDQ-7) and to correlate the ETDQ-7 scores with scores of CRS symptom severity based on the 22-item Sino-Nasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22). Methods Patients for FESS were preoperatively administered both the ETDQ-7 and the SNOT-22 validated quality of life instruments. Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated. Changes in ETDQ-7 were measured at 3 months and differences were compared via paired t test. Results A total of 82 patients completed the surveys. Thirty-nine (47.6%) patients had ETDQ-7 score ≥14.5, signifying clinically significant ETD symptoms. The mean ETDQ-7 score of the study population was 15.8 ± 8.8, and the mean SNOT-22 score was 37.5 ± 19.7. The Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients between ETDQ-7 and the total SNOT-22 score were 0.52 ( P > .0001) and 0.51 ( P < .0001), respectively. There was significant improvement in ETDQ-7 scores postoperatively. Conclusion While the association between ETD and CRS has long been known, this is one of the few prospective patient studies evaluating otologic symptoms in a CRS population. We found that a significant percentage of CRS patients suffer from ETD symptoms based on patient-reported subjective outcome measures. This study demonstrates that otologic symptoms increase with CRS severity and improve after FESS.


2021 ◽  
pp. 194589242110136
Author(s):  
Amarbir S. Gill ◽  
Shaelene Ashby ◽  
Gretchen M. Oakley ◽  
Toby O. Steele ◽  
Dennis Menjivar ◽  
...  

Background Medical comorbidities are commonly encountered in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) and may impact both physical function and patient reported health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL). The functional comorbidity index (FCI) is designed to elucidate the role of comorbidities on functional prognosis. The objective of this study was to understand the impact of comorbidities known to impact physical function on baseline HRQOL using the FCI. Methodology: Patients meeting diagnostic criteria for CRS were prospectively enrolled in a cross-sectional study. Responses from the Sinonasal Outcomes Test-22 (SNOT-22), a measure of patient HRQOL, as well as the Lund-Kennedy and Lund-Mackay scores were recorded at enrollment. FCI was calculated retrospectively using the electronic medical record. Information was collected and compared for patients without (CRSsNP) and with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) using chi-square and t-tests. Spearman’s correlations, followed by multivariate regression analysis, were used to assess the association between FCI and SNOT-22 scores. Results One hundred and three patients met inclusion criteria for analysis. There were no significant differences in age, gender, and SNOT-22 scores between patients with CRSsNP and those with CRSwNP. FCI was significantly and independently associated with worse SNOT-22 scores ( P = .012). FCI did not correlate with endoscopy and computed tomography scores. The mean FCI for patients with CRSsNP and CRSwNP was 2.02 and 2.24, respectively, and did not differ significantly between the two cohorts ( P = .565). Conclusions Major medical comorbidities known to affect physical function are associated with worse SNOT-22 scores in patients with CRS as measured by the FCI.


Author(s):  
Raies Ahmad Begh ◽  
Aditiya Saraf ◽  
Kamal Kishore ◽  
Parmod Kalsotra

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> This paper aims to assess improvement in quality of life (QOL) after functional endoscopic sinus surgery through questionnaire sino-nasal outcome test (SNOT)-22.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> The present study was conducted on 50 patients in Department of ENT and HNS, SMGS Hospital, GMC Jammu during a time period of July 2017 to September 2019. All the patients with age ≥18 years who failed to respond to medical therapy (3 months) and underwent functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) were included in the study. SNOT-22 questionnaire was used to assess the improvement.  </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> In our study, preoperative SNOT scores were higher (54±8.05) but after FESS they reduced significantly at 1st (16.47±5.51), 3rd (13.86±4.19), 6th months (12.9±8.05) post operatively. Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) with nasal polyposis group had greater mean difference of SNOT-22 scores (43.93) between preoperative period and 3 months postoperative period than patients grouped as CRS without nasal polyposis (41.47).</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> We concluded that FESS is the best surgical intervention for chronic rhinosinusitis. It significantly improves the quality of life of patients of chronic rhinosinusitis.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Nguyen Vu ◽  
Nguyen Quang Nghia ◽  
Tran Minh Tuan ◽  
Tran Ha Phuong ◽  
Hoang-Long Vo ◽  
...  

Objectives: To consider that the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) has become an inherent part of the patient outcomes in the care and treatment after kidney transplantation (KT). This study aimed to measure HRQOL among a representative sample size of patients after KT by using both the Short Form 36 (SF-36) and the Kidney Disease Quality of Life 36 (KDQOL-36).Methods and Results: Data of this cross-sectional design were collected in the Organ Transplant Center, Viet Duc University Hospital (Hanoi, Vietnam) from January 2020 to March 2020 and included the patients aged 18 years or over after KT at 6 months, 1 year, and 3 years postoperatively. HRQOL was evaluated through face-to-face interviews by means of the SF-36 and KDQOL-36 measurement tools. According to the SF-36, the overall mean score of HRQOL was 69.13 ± 15.55 and the two domains were the highest scores of “Mental Health” (81.23 ± 14.28) and “General Health” (80.06 ± 14.81). When measuring with the KDQOL-36, the overall mean score was 68.67 ± 13.75 and was the highest in the domain “Symptoms and Problems of Kidney Disease” (87.06 ± 16.00). Both instruments had good reliability for those after KT. The reliability of the SF-36 was high with Cronbach's coefficients α = 0.90. There were positive relationships between the dimensions measured by the KDQOL-36 and SF-36 (correlation coefficient: 0.03–0.69). Similarly, the domains of the SF-36 also had positive correlations with the KDQOL-36 (correlation coefficient: 0.18–0.51). The correlation coefficient between overall HRQOL scores of the SF-36 and KDQOL-36 was 0.62, indicating a strong correlation between the SF-36 and KDQOL-36.Conclusions: There were slight fluctuations in the HRQOL score in domains in the 3-year follow-up stages, suggesting not having clear change. The mean SF-36 score was consistent with the mean KDQOL-36 score. High reliability and strong correlation were found between two instruments of the SF-36 and KDQOL-36. This study provides the reliability and constructs validity in the combination of two sets of the SF-36 and KDQOL-36 scales for the assessment of HRQOL among post-KT patients, thereby assisting physicians and health professionals in the clinical decision-making, assessment of therapeutic efficacy, and understanding of treatment risk.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mansour Ghafourifard ◽  
Banafshe Mehrizade ◽  
Hadi Hassankhani ◽  
Mohammad Heidari

Abstract Background Patients on hemodialysis have less exercise capacity and lower health-related quality of life than healthy individuals without chronic kidney disease (CKD). One of the factors that may influence exercise behavior among these patients is their perception of exercise benefits and barriers. The present study aimed to assess the perception of hemodialysis patients about exercise benefits and barriers and its association with patients’ health-related quality of life. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 227 patients undergoing hemodialysis were randomly selected from two dialysis centers. Data collection was carried out using dialysis patient-perceived exercise benefits and barriers scale (DPEBBS) and kidney disease quality of life short form (KDQOL-SF). Data were analyzed using SPSS software ver. 21. Results The mean score of DPEBBS was 68.2 ± 7.4 (range: 24 to 96) and the mean KDQOL score was 48.9 ± 23.3 (range: 0 to 100). Data analysis by Pearson correlation coefficient showed a positive and significant relationship between the mean scores of DPEBBS and the total score of KDQOL (r = 0.55, p < 0.001). Moreover, there was a positive relationship between the mean scores of DPEBBS and the mean score of all domains of KDQOL. Conclusion Although most of the patients undergoing hemodialysis had a positive perception of the exercise, the majority of them do not engage in exercise; it could be contributed to the barriers of exercise such as tiredness, muscle fatigue, and fear of arteriovenous fistula injury. Providing exercise facilities, encouraging the patients by the health care provider to engage in exercise programs, and incorporation of exercise professionals into hemodialysis centers could help the patients to engage in regular exercise.


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