Influence of age on rhinoplasty outcomes evaluation: a preliminary study

The aim of this study was to evaluate the satisfaction of patients who underwent rhinoplasty by using the Rhinoplasty outcomes evaluation (ROE) questionnaire and determine the influence of patient age on the outcomes.

We conducted a longitudinal study to assess patients' pre- and postoperative degrees of satisfaction with their results. The study was done at a tertiary-care medical center. The ROE questionnaire was applied twice in the same visit and aimed at measuring the patient's satisfaction in both pre- and postoperative moments.

The initial sample of this study was composed of 112 patients, 61 of whom have answered the ROE questionnaire. A mean difference of 50.5 (P < 0.0001) was observed between the pre- and postoperative satisfaction scores. No statistically significant difference was observed on the mean difference between pre- and postoperative satisfaction scores (CHANGE) according to sex (P = 0.673), the follow-up time period (P = 0.629), or the kind of surgical procedure (P = 0.904). The mean postoperative score of the <30-year-old group was lower than the mean of 30 to <50-year-old (P < 0.003) and ≥50-year-old groups (P < 0.009).

The ROE questionnaire is a tool for evaluating the outcomes of different surgical indications for correcting nasal deformities. The kind of surgical procedure had no influence on the mean difference between pre- and postoperative satisfaction scores. By using this tool we found that the younger age group reported lower postoperative satisfaction scores than older patients.