Smoking Cessation Improves Chronic Rhinosinusitis Symptoms

HealthDay News — Symptoms of chronic rhinosinusitis can be reversed within 10 years after quitting smoking, according to a study published online in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

Ahmad Sedaghat, MD, PhD, a sinus surgeon at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and assistant professor of otolaryngology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues assessed the severity of symptoms and medication use among 103 former smokers with chronic rhinosinusitis and 103 individuals who had never smoked but also had chronic rhinosinusitis.

The team found smokers had worse symptoms and used more antibiotics and oral corticosteroids to treat sinus infections and reduce inflammation than nonsmokers. But they also found that symptoms among former smokers improved steadily over a decade.

“We very consistently saw that all of our metrics for the severity of chronic rhinosinusitis decreased to the levels of nonsmoking chronic rhinosinusitis patients over about 10 years, with the severity of symptoms, medication usage, and quality-of-life improving steadily over that timeframe,” Sedaghat said in an infirmary news release.

Reference

Phillips KM, Hoehle L, Bergmark RW, Caradonna DS, Gray ST, Sedaghat AR. Reversal of smoking effects on chronic rhinosinusitis after smoking cessation [published online July 12, 2017]. Otolaryng Head Neck. doi:10.1177/0194599817717960