Sinusitis in allergic patients

Allergy is one of the aetiologic factors in the pathogenesis of sinusitis. To determine its influence on the occurrence of sinusitis the authors studied CT-scans of the sinuses in 59 allergic children and 62 allergic adults. Sinusitis was found in 36 children (61%) and 36 adults (58%). These results were compared with two previous studies consisting of mainly non-allergic children (n = 196) and mainly non-allergic adults (n = 350). Except for allergy, identical inclusion and evaluation criteria were used. In the previous studies, sinusitis was found in 125 children (64%) and 201 adults (57.5%). According to these results it seems that the prevalence and the extent of sinus mucosa involvement is not determined by aetiology (allergic or non-allergic). Age seems to be of major importance regarding the extent of sinus disease.