Epidemiology of Chronic Rhinosinusitis: Prevalence and Risk Factors

Knowledge of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) epidemiology may directly impact patient care: aiding patient identification and establishing accurate diagnosis as well as informing treatment decisions. The objective of this review is to summarize the current evidence on the epidemiology of CRS, with a focus on prevalence and risk factors. Although the presence of either symptoms or objective findings alone have yielded CRS prevalence estimates of over 10%, the presence of both-consistent with guideline-based diagnostic criteria for CRS-has suggested that the true prevalence of CRS is consistently less than 5%, with approximately one-third of patients with CRS having nasal polyps, in epidemiologic studies from around the world. In comparison, the prevalence of CRS endotypes-pathophysiologic subclassification of CRS most commonly as related to type 2 or non-type 2 inflammation-has been found to vary significantly by region. The epidemiology of CRS is modified and ultimately determined by risk factors: genetic/hereditary, demographic, environmental, and imparted by predictive pre-/comorbid disease. The understanding of these epidemiologic relationships may help the provider to optimally identify and understand each individual's CRS disease process, thereby improving both diagnosis and treatment.