Association between clinical symptoms and CT findings in chronic rhinosinusitis

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to find out the association between the clinical symptoms of chronic rhinosinusitis [CRS] and CT findings. 50 patients with CRS were studied. Their clinical symptoms were recorded according to the sinonasal outcome questionnaire [SNOT-20] and their CT findings were graded by the Lund-Mackay grading system. The Pearson correlation coefficient was assessed between these two scores. Also we used multiple regression models for adjusted association among variables. The mean +/- SD of SNOT-20 and the Lund-Mackay score were 45 +/- 8.7 [range 29- 67] and 18.5 +/- 5 [range 8-24], respectively. The mean +/- SD SNOT-20 score was higher for postnasal drip [PND] and facial pain; the lowest mean scores were for dizziness and ear pain. Pearson's correlation coefficient of SNOT-20 and the Lund-Mackay grading system was 0.74 [p=0.0001]. In simple regression analysis considering the Lund-Mackay score as dependent variable and SNOT symptom domains [nasal, oropharyngeal, sleep, facial, and systemic] as independent variables, the best associated clinical symptom domain was the nasal symptom domain [model r2=0.76; p<0.0001]. In the multivariate linear regression model, considering the five symptom domains as independent variables, the model r2 was 0.8 [p<0.0001] and the only significant variable in the model was the nasal symptom domain [p<0.0001]. Patients with higher symptom scores are more likely to have CT imaging evidence of rhinosinusitis