Background: Patients with both chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) and asthma (CRS-A) have increased rates of revision endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS). Research surrounding the impact of comorbid CRS on asthma control has been limited. Herein, we used a case-control study design to examine whether comorbid CRS was associated with worse asthma control test (ACT) scores.
Methods: ACT scores were prospectively collected among patients evaluated for asthma in a tertiary care pulmonology clinic. The diagnoses of asthma were made/confirmed based on the Global Initiative for Asthma Guidelines 2020. Among this cohort of patients, those with a physician diagnosis of CRS (made in accordance with the criteria put forth by the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery) were retrospectively identified. Baseline and follow-up ACT scores, as well as demographic information, were compared between patients with CRS-A vs. those with asthma-alone.
Results: Among a final cohort of 497 patients, the mean baseline ACT score was 16.76 for those with asthma-alone (n=400) and 16.23 for those with CRS-A (n=97) (p=0.39). Although comorbid CRS (p=0.39) and comorbid nasal polyposis (p=0.58) were not predictive of ACT scores, male gender was associated with improved control (p=0.01). The mean improvement in ACT among those with CRS-A (mean follow-up 57.6 weeks) vs. asthma-alone (mean follow-up 47.7 weeks) was not significantly different (1.88 vs 1.02, respectively) (p=0.22).
Conclusion: Baseline and follow-up ACT scores do not significantly differ between patients with asthma-alone and those with CRS-A. Thus, comorbid CRS is not associated with worse ACT scores.