Real-World Evaluation of Asthma Severity Following Endoscopic Sinus Surgery in Chronic Rhinosinusitis Patients

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) on asthma severity up to 12 months after surgical intervention.

Retrospective cohort.

Tertiary care center.

Patients with a history of asthma and Chronic Rhinosinusitis (CRS) who underwent ESS between 2013 and 2023 were included. Asthma severity was assessed according to current Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) guidelines, classifying patients into mild, moderate, and severe based on medication requirements. Asthma severity was evaluated up to 3 months prior to ESS and 1-year post-ESS. Patients with aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD) were excluded. Statistical analysis was performed using McNemar test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test to assess differences in asthma severity, medication doses, and number of medications.

Sixty-five patients were included, of which 44 (67.7%) had CRS with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) and 21 (32.3%) had CRS without nasal polyps (CRSsNP). No significant differences were found in asthma severity pre- and post-ESS (P = .175). Similarly, no differences were found in ICS doses (P = .999), total number of prescribed medications (P = .157) or presence of exacerbations before and after ESS (P = .078). However, a significant increase in time from last rescue inhaler use was noted after ESS, increasing from a median of 6.71 to 23.1 weeks (P = .004).

This study is the first to assess the impact of ESS on asthma severity in a real-world setting. Our findings suggest that ESS does not impact asthma severity classification. However, it might provide relief of asthma symptoms in the early postoperative period.