Effects of the Traditional Mediterranean Diet in Childhood Recurrent Acute Rhinosinusitis

Fernando M Calatayud-Sáez,Ana Calatayud,Blanca Calatayud

doi:10.3390/sinusitis5020011

Abstract

Introduction: There are more and more studies that demonstrate the anti-inflammatory effects of the traditional Mediterranean diet (TMD). The aim of the study was to assess the effects of an intervention with the TMD in patients with recurrent acute and chronic rhinosinusitis. Material and Methods: We performed a pretest–posttest comparison study in 114 patients (56 girls and 58 boys) aged one to five years who had three or more acute rhinosinusitis episodes in the period of 1 year. They were included for a year in the nutritional program “Learning to eat from the Mediterranean”. The anthropometric, clinical, and therapeutic characteristics were studied. Results: All the studied indicators showed a positive and statistically significant evolution. Of the patients, 53.5% did not have any episode of acute rhinosinusitis, and 26.3% had only one, compared to the 3.37 they had on average in the previous year. The use of antibiotics decreased by 87.6%. The degree of satisfaction of the families was very high. The Mediterranean Diet Quality Index (KIDMED) that assesses the quality of the TMD rose from 7.7 to 11 points. Conclusions: The adoption of the TMD could have promising effects in the prevention and treatment of recurrent acute and chronic rhinosinusitis, limiting the pharmacological and surgical intervention in many of these patients.

Highlights

There are more and more studies that demonstrate the anti-inflammatory effects of the traditional Mediterranean diet (TMD)
Some patients lengthen the usual colds over and over again, causing recurrent acute rhinosinusitis (ARS) (RARS), which do not usually cause fever, and predisposes some parents not to come to the consultation and ends up turning into chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS)
They are patients who have persistent green mucus, significant nasal obstruction, difficulty falling asleep and a persistent cough, with little effect on the general condition. This persistent inflammatory state contributes to the enlargement of the local lymphatic tissue, such as the palatine tonsils and the adenoids, leading to a space conflict [8]. They often present with worsening clinical attacks or other complications, such as recurrent acute otitis media (RAOM), otitis media with effusion (OME), persistent nasal obstruction (PNO) and recurrent wheezing or childhood asthma (SR) [9,10]

Summary

Introduction

There are more and more studies that demonstrate the anti-inflammatory effects of the traditional Mediterranean diet (TMD). Some patients lengthen the usual colds over and over again, causing recurrent ARS (RARS), which do not usually cause fever, and predisposes some parents not to come to the consultation and ends up turning into chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) They are patients who have persistent green mucus, significant nasal obstruction, difficulty falling asleep and a persistent cough, with little effect on the general condition. This persistent inflammatory state contributes to the enlargement of the local lymphatic tissue, such as the palatine tonsils and the adenoids, leading to a space conflict [8]. In the last case and after having failed with the pharmacological treatment, surgical intervention is usually indicated, with the oblation of the adenoids and/or the palatine tonsils, without the results being entirely satisfactory [23]

Objectives

Methods

Results