Nonallergic Rhinitis in the Elderly: A Reliable and Safe Therapeutic Approach.

OBJECTIVE: Nonallergic rhinitis (NAR) causes significant functional and emotional impairment, affecting the quality of life (QoL) of elderly patients often suffering from other chronic diseases that require additional therapies to be added to the numerous daily medications. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of crenotherapy with sodium chloride sulfate hyperthermal water rich in mineral salts on the QoL of elderly patients with NAR. METHODS: Sixty elderly subjects with NAR were divided into 2 groups. Group I (n = 30) underwent crenotherapy with sodium chloride sulfate hyperthermal water rich in mineral salts, and group II (n = 30) underwent treatment with NaCl 0.9%. At baseline and after treatment, both groups underwent nasal endoscopy, and we determined their Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores for rhinorrhea, respiratory obstruction and sneezing. RESULTS: After treatment, the patients in both groups reported having no adverse reactions. Endoscopic and VAS score results were better in group I than in group II. All subjects showed a good degree of tolerability. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that crenotherapy improves the QoL in elderly patients with NAR. Crenotherapy can prevent elderly patients with NAR from having to take additional medications, which can often cause relevant adverse reactions and considerable health care costs.

Impact of intranasal sodium hyaluronate on the short-term quality of life of patients undergoing functional endoscopic sinus surgery for chronic rhinosinusitis.

BACKGROUND: Functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) has become the treatment of choice for patients with medically resistant chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) and nasal polyps. Despite the consolidated use of different treatments, the postoperative period is often very painful and uncomfortable, especially during the first month. Although evidence on the effectiveness of sodium hyaluronate (SH) on postoperative care following FESS is available, data on the quality of life (QoL) from the patients' perspective are still lacking. This study aimed to evaluate for the first time the effectiveness of nasal douche with SH in reducing patients' discomfort during the first month following FESS. METHODS: A double-blind randomized controlled study was carried out on 124 subjects undergoing FESS for CRS with nasal polyposis. They were divided into 2 groups: group I was treated with nasal douche containing 9 mg of high molecular weight SH plus saline solution and group II was treated with saline solution alone. To assess QoL in CRS patients, the Short Form-36 (SF-36) test, the Sino-Nasal Outcome Test-22 (SNOT-22), and the visual analogue scale (VAS) questionnaires were administered. RESULTS: At baseline, there were no statistically significant differences between the 2 groups. However, after 30 days of long postoperative treatments, we found clinically significant improvements in QoL of subjects treated with SH, as evidenced by all QoL scales. CONCLUSION: Our data indicate that SH significantly improves patients' short-term QoL following FESS in terms of both general health and specific sinonasal status.