The Effect of smoking on disease presentation in chronic rhinosinusitis: Quality of life, disease severity & income in CRS

Objective: Smoking interferes with nasal mucociliary function, which may to lead to mucostasis and inflammation of the sinuses. However, studies evaluating the effect of smoking on chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) and outcomes of sinus surgery have demonstrated inconsistent results, and the effect of smoking on quality of life in the CRS population is unclear. The purpose of this study is to compare the presentation of illness and disease-severity of CRS in smoking and non-smoking patients. STUDY DESIGN Prospective matched cohort study with cross-sectional analysis. METHODS Thirty-four smoking patients with CRS were matched by age and gender with 34 non-smoking patients with CRS. Patients were compared by multiple measures of disease-severity including computed tomography score, endoscopy score, and olfactory score. Disease-specific and general healthrelated quality of life (QOL) measures were also analyzed. McNemar's test, paired t-tests and linear regression methods were performed with correction for multiple comparisons using Bonferroni's adjustment.