Older Age Is Associated With Better Compliance With Follow-up in Taiwan After Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery.

Abstract

Functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) is frequently conducted for restoring sinus ventilation and function. Postoperative care is critical for success. However, loss to follow-up is disturbing. The specific aim of this study was to identify critical factors contributing to loss of patients to follow-up and how to improve it. A total of 221 patients with chronic rhinosinusitis undergoing FESS were enrolled. Patients were divided into three groups according to their follow-up after surgery: Less than 1 month (short-term), 1-3 months (medium-term) and more than 3 months (long-term). The gender, age, smoking status, comorbidities, laterality, Lund-Mackay score, 22-question Sinonasal Outcome Test, nasal obstruction Visual Analogue Scale and mucociliary clearance were evaluated for their contribution to better compliance in follow-up. The results revealed that older patients had better compliance in follow-up compared with younger ones (p=0.0093). Other factors were not contributory (p>0.05). In contrast to the US, older patients in Taiwan have better compliance in postoperative follow-up, while younger ones require more education on the importance of follow-up.