Sino-Nasal Outcome Test-22 quality-of-life patterns in patients presenting with nasal septal perforation

To assess the impact of nasal septal perforation (NSP) on quality of life.

Retrospective cohort study.

Rhinology clinics from two hospitals in Liverpool, United Kingdom.

Patients diagnosed with NSP.

Patients (n = 26) diagnosed with NSP completed the Sino-Nasal Outcome Test-22 (SNOT-22). The collated data were compared with SNOT-22 scores from a cohort of healthy volunteers (n = 34) and a cohort of patients (n = 30) diagnosed with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS).

The mean total SNOT-22 score of NSP and CRS cohorts was higher than that observed in healthy volunteers. The mean total SNOT-22 score in the CRS cohort (57.2, standard deviation SD 10.3) was the higher than NSP (50.2, SD 23.5), although this difference did not achieve statistical significance. The mean score for the rhinologic-specific domains (rhinologic symptoms, extranasal rhinologic symptoms), ear/facial symptoms and psychological dysfunction domain was higher in the CRS cohort compared to NSP, although statistical significance was only observed in the extranasal rhinologic symptoms domain (11.2, SD 2.4 vs 6.4, SD 4.1). Conversely, the mean sleep dysfunction domain score for NSP (12.7, SD 7.5) was higher than CRS (10.0, SD 4.9, respectively) although this was not statistically significant.

This study has assessed the clinimetric and psychometric properties of patients suffering from symptomatic NSP. Future reports should consider inclusion of SNOT-22 data but with the addition of perforation-specific symptoms (nasal crusting, epistaxis, whistling noise).