Evaluation for sinusitis in children aged between 3 and 15 years with recurrent respiratory tract infection by clinical and radiological methods in a tertiary-care hospital

Abstract

Background: The health of children is affected badly owing to the effects caused by pediatric sinusitis. An average child will have 6–8 upper respiratory infections per year during the first decade of life, and it is reported that these infections get complicated by 13% because of acute bacterial sinusitis. Very few reports of the prevalence of sinusitis in children with recurrent respiratory tract symptoms (RRTS) have been reported in India, and, hence, this study was carried out. Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of sinusitis in children aged 3 to 15 years by clinical and radiological paranasal sinuses (X-ray PNS) methods in children with RRTS, in Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences (HIMS), Hassan, Karnataka, India. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was done at HIMS, a tertiary-care hospital, Hassan, over a period of 1 year. All children in the age group of 3–15 years who showed RRTS (>3 episodes in 6 months or 6 episodes in 1 year) were included in the study. Result: Of the 57 cases, 36 children were male and 21 female subjects; among the cases, 38 children were younger than 6 years and 19 children older than 6 years. Of the 57 cases, X-ray findings were found in 42 cases, of which 27 cases presented opacification and 15 cases mucosal thickening. Conclusion: In our study, it was found that there is an association between clinically diagnosed sinusitis and x-ray–diagnosed sinusitis. There is no association between clinically diagnosed sinusitis and x-ray–diagnosed sinusitis in group A and B of RRTS, but there is an association between clinically diagnosed sinusitis and x-ray–diagnosed sinusitis in group C of RRTS.