Heredity of nasal polyps

Nasal polyps is a common disease but little is known about its` pathogenesis. Our hypothesis was that there are genetic factors involved in the development of this disease. The aim of this study was to examine close relatives of patients with nasal polyps and comparing them with a general population with regard to prevalence of polyps.

Patients with nasal polyps who attended the clinic were recruited to the study and were asked whether they had any close adult relatives (siblings, parents or children). We intended to recruit two relatives per patient, one of each gender, for nasal endoscopy. The prevalence of nasal polyps in these relatives was compared with the prevalence of nasal polyps in a general population.

During a 4-year period, 368 patients and 410 relatives were recruited to the study. Although we were unable to recruit two close relatives for every patient, we were able to calculate nasal polyp prevalence within families as being 19.2%. Compared with the prevalence of nasal polyps among individuals in a general Swedish population from the same geographical area, the relative risk for polyps among relatives was almost five times higher.

This study strongly indicates that heredity is a factor of importance for development of nasal polyps.