Abstract :
Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a common health problem worldwide, and often coexists with asthma. Here, we aim to describe the effect of co-incidence of asthma on CRS and its symptoms. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1225 people complaining of various health symptoms, who went to the private outpatient clinic, specialized in ear, nose and throat, for the period from June 10 to October 30 in the city of Kirkuk, northern Iraq. Chronic rhinosinusitis was diagnosed in 150 patients (11%). It was found that (20.0%) of CRS patients suffer from asthma. A comparison was made between the CRS with asthma and the CRS without asthma groups for some demographic factors and symptoms. The results demonstrated that CRS patients with asthma had a higher incidence of nasal obstruction, olfactory dysfunction, and nasal polyps than non-asthmatic CRS patients. On the contrary, we observed a significantly higher rate of head pain in subjects with CRS without asthma, compared to the CRS with asthma. According to these findings, there is a need for close collaboration between otolaryngology and respiratory medicine regarding patients with chronic rhinosinusitis and its co-occurrence with asthma, especially in clinical practice.
