The Diagnosis and Treatment of Sinusitis

inusitis is a widespread disease frequently seen in the primary care setting. There are 32 million cases of chronic sinusitis in the United States annually. Since 1980, the number of office visits per year has tripled, owing partly to a better definition of the disease and improved diagnosis, and the use of antibiotics to treat the disease has quadrupled. Sinusitis accounted for 11.6 million office visits in 2000. There has been some suggestion that antibiotics are overused, particularly in the treatment of acute sinusitis. Sinusitis is also an expensive ailment, accounting for at least $2.4 billion annually in direct medical costs, and additional indirect costs due to time off from work and loss of productivity. Such indirect expenses are likely to be immense as well, considering the prevalence of the disease and the debility it causes, as measured by the HealthRelated Quality of Life Medical Outcomes Survey Short Form 36 (SF-36). In fact, for patients with chronic sinusitis, scores on the quality-of-life index are comparable to those of individuals with congestive heart failure, angina pectoris, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.