Sinusitis

Sinusitis is a common condition that affects millions of people across the world. It has been estimated that as many as 35 million Americans suffer from this disease and that in 1995 it accounted for at least $2.4 billion in direct medical costs alone. This figure does not take into account the economic impact of lost productivity, work days lost for illness, and time lost for doctors’ office visits.  Recent work comparing how “well” patients with different conditions feel show that on a day to day basis, individuals with sinusitis feel about as well as those with congestive heart failure.  The burden of sinusitis for individuals (and their families) and for society as a whole is therefore quite large. 

Sinusitis is simply defined as inflammation of the sinuses.  The term doesn’t indicate what the cause is so there can be bacterial sinusitis, viral sinusitis, allergic sinusitis, etc.  It is also important to separate “acute” from “chronic” sinusitis.  These terms refer to the time course of the sinusitis, not necessarily the severity of the symptoms.  Acute sinusitis typically refers to a condition that lasts less than 4 weeks while chronic sinusitis lasts for at least 3 or more months.