Hoosier State Today

Recent studies have found that chronic sinusitis is linked to various conditions that can decrease quality of life, including sleep deprivation, impaired cognitive function and depression.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 28.9 million Americans, or 11.6% of the adult population, suffer from the effects of chronic sinusitis. This condition was responsible for 4.1 million doctor visits and more than 230,000 emergency room visits in 2018.

A Korean study indicated that people with chronic sinusitis are 41% more likely to suffer from depression, and 45% were more likely to develop anxiety, according to Physician's Weekly.

"Everyone's had a bad cold and tried to go to work with it. It's hard to focus and hard to get through the day with that stuff. For the chronic sinusitis people, it's somewhat like that every day, day in and day out," Dr. Nicholas Hollenkamp at Indianapolis Sinus Center told Hoosier State Today. "You have to think about that, if it's hard to concentrate and hard to enjoy things. Obviously, that is a little bit depressing, and then it can lead to depression and really anxiety issues, too."

Another study in Expert Review of Anti-Infective Therapy found that approximately 60 to 75% of people with chronic sinusitis also suffer from poor sleep.

"I think chronic sinusitis people don't sleep very well either, and there's a big tie-in there," Hollenkamp added. "That also plays into depression and anxiety issues and concentration issues. People with sleep apnea and sleep problems, they don't do well on those scores either. So I think the sinusitis gets you both ways. It feeds into the sleep problems, and just the pain and trouble breathing through the nose cause issues."

An early intervention for sinus patients not only increases their immediate quality of life, but also improves long-term relief and reduces health care costs, according to a separate study published in Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery. One of the most common treatments for chronic sinusitis is balloon sinuplasty, which is a minimally invasive, in-office procedure that is performed at Indianapolis Sinus Center, and the results have been proven very effective for chronic sinus sufferers.