Effect of diabetes mellitus on postoperative endoscopic sinus surgery outcomes

Endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) has become the treatment of choice for a variety of nasal conditions. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of diabetes mellitus (DM) on postoperative outcomes in ESS.

Data on endoscopic sinus surgery performed from 2005 to 2013 were collected from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement (ACS-NSQIP) database. Two groups were created, based on the presence of a DM diagnosis, and were analyzed for preoperative variables, comorbidities, and postoperative complications using SPSS statistical software.

There were 644 patients included in the analysis, 85 of whom (13.2%) had a diagnosis of DM. Patients with DM were more likely to have higher rates of preoperative dyspnea and hypertension. After accounting for confounding factors, DM patients undergoing ESS were at higher risk of overall medical complications, pneumonia, unplanned reintubation, ventilator use of >48 hours, and mortality. However, after separating patients into outpatient and inpatient groups, DM was found to be an independent predictor of urinary tract infection in outpatients and of ventilator use >48 hours in inpatients.

DM patients undergoing ESS are at increased risk for postoperative medical complications. However, DM does not appear to increase the postoperative surgical complication rate in this population. Furthermore, DM does not appear to have an impact on ESS mortality, readmission, or reoperation rates.