The Burden of Sinusitis in Hematologic Transplant Patients: A National Perspective

To determine the impact of sinusitis on outcomes of hematologic transplant procedures.

Retrospective analysis of a national hospital database.

The National Inpatient Sample database for 2012 to 2013 was queried using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes to identify patients undergoing hematologic transplants. Patients were divided based upon the presence or absence of a concomitant diagnosis of acute or chronic sinusitis. Patient demographics, clinical characteristics, discharge results, lengths of stay (LOS), and costs were compared between groups.

There were 7,069 hematologic transplant cases identified, 2.7% of which had a diagnosis of sinusitis. Sinusitis patients had a longer LOS after transplant (24.9 ± 15.9 days vs. 19.1 ± 17.4 days, P < .001) and higher total hospital charges ($487,941 ± $447,532 vs. $322,300 ± $369,596, P < .001) than nonsinusitis patients. There was no difference in mortality between the two groups (P = .75). The 23 (12%) sinusitis patients who underwent sinus procedures had a longer LOS after transplant (34.8 ± 25 days vs. 23.5 ± 13.7 days, P = .001) and higher total hospital charges ($857,891 ± $718,456 vs. $437,293 ± $372,075, P < .001) than sinusitis patients without sinus procedures. Linear regression showed that sinusitis patients had excess LOS after transplant of 2.442 days and cost of $82,000.098.

This study demonstrates that presence of sinusitis in patients undergoing hematologic transplant is associated with increased LOS and higher total hospital charges. Increased focus on diagnosis and if possible treatment of sinusitis prior to admission for transplantation may help reduce the impact of sinusitis after hematologic transplant.

NA Laryngoscope, 128:2688-2692, 2018.