The influence of nasal septum deformity degree on subjective nasal breathing assessment

Abstract

Introduction. The aim of this paper is to determine the influence of nasal septum deformity degree on the subjective nasal breathing assessment as well as the existence of correlation between one side of the nose with nasal septum deformity and the subjective feeling of difficulty in breathing on that side in the subjects with different degrees of nasal septum deviation. Material and Methods. The research included 90 randomly chosen patients, who claimed to have nasal breathing difficulties. Every patient assessed subjectively which side of the nose made breathing difficult and scored the breathing on that side from 0 to 10 cm on the visual analogue scale. Results. The patients from the third group described their breathing as the most difficult, while the subjects from the first group claimed that their nasal breathing problems were the least difficult. The subjective feeling of heavy nasal breathing on the deformed nasal septum side was significantly different in all groups (H= 38.466, p= 0.000). In the second and the third group of patients there was a significant correlation between the deformed side of the nose and the subjective heavy breathing on that side (p< 0.05), whereas this correlation was not found in the first group (p> 0.05). Conclusion. The subjective feeling of difficulty in breathing on the deformed side of the nose is intensified with the degree of the nasal septum deformity, thus this feeling was reported only by the subjects with a higher degree of the nasal septum deformity.