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Correlation between acoustic rhinometry and visual analogue scale in children with no nasal symptoms: a prospective
L E Haavisto1, T J Vahlberg, J I Sipilä
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland. lotta.haavisto@tyks.fi
Objectives:
Acoustic rhinometry is an objective tool to evaluate nasal obstruction. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of visual analogue scale (VAS) as a subjective tool for nasal obstruction and the correlation between acoustic rhinometry and VAS in children with no nasal symptoms.
Design:
Unilateral acoustic values and VAS were measured at baseline and after decongestion of the nose.
Setting:
Tertiary academic hospital.
Participants:
The study included 124 children aged between 7 and 14 years with no permanent nasal symptoms.
Results:
At baseline, the mean minimal cross-sectional area on the right side was 0.392 cm(2) (sd 0.094), and on the left side 0.360 cm(2) (sd 0.093), whereas the mean VAS on the right side was 7.43 (sd 2.50) and on the left side 6.81 (sd 3.01). After decongestion, the mean minimal cross-sectional area on the right and left sides were 0.421 cm(2) (sd 0.087) and 0.373 cm(2) (sd 0.11), respectively, whereas the mean VAS on the right and left sides were 8.77 (sd 2.02) and 8.54 (sd 2.14), respectively. At baseline, a significant correlation was found between VAS and minimal cross-sectional area, but no correlation was found between VAS and acoustic values after decongestion.
Conclusions:
We conclude that VAS shows potential as a subjective tool to investigate nasal obstruction in children over 7 years of age. There was a correlation between VAS and acoustic rhinometry in children with no nasal symptoms at baseline. No correlation was found in children with decongested normal nasal airways.
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