2017 Volume 151 Pages 26-28
We propose a novel nasal symptom questionnaire (NSQ) for easy evaluation of patients suffering from sinonasal diseases. Between June 2015 and April 2016, the NSQ was completed by 70 healthy people without any nasal diseases, 79 patients who had undergone sinonasal surgery, and 44 patients with olfactory disorder who were treated at the Department of Otolaryngology, Hyogo College of Medicine. The NSQ is a self-administered survey questionnaire consisting of a total of 10 items divided into two parts (I–II): (I) nasal symptom-related items (8 items): 1) sneezing and/or itching of nose, 2) nasal discharge, 3) nasal obstruction, 4) post nasal drip and/or sputum, 5) olfactory loss, 6) pain (buccal, tooth, facial pain and/or headache), 7) eye itching and/or epiphora, and 8) cough; and (II) quality of life (QOL)-related items (2 items): 1) reduced productivity at school/work, limitation of outdoor life and/or social functioning, and 2) sleep problem, general physical problems and/or emotional problems. The subjects are asked to score their responses to each item of the NSQ on a 4-grade scale, as follows: no symptoms at all (0 points); mild symptoms (1 point); severe symptoms (2 points), and extremely severe symptoms (3 points). The total (0–30 points) score on the NSQ and also the scores for individual (0–3 points) items of the NSQ were analyzed. In addition, a visual analogue scale (VAS) for determining the severity of the nasal symptoms was also applied in the third part (III) of the NSQ. The mean total score on the NSQ (9.97 points, n=79) was significantly higher in the patients with sinonasal diseases (3.14 points, n=70) than in the healthy subjects (p<0.001). The scores for nasal discharge, obstruction, postnasal drip, and QOL-related items were also significantly higher in the patient group higher than in the group of healthy subjects. In particular, patients with eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis (ECRS) showed high scores on the items of olfaction loss and cough. In the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, the area under the curve (AUC) of 0.847 could be considered as “good”. According to these statistical data, the cutoff value of the NSQ score for patients with sinonasal diseases was clinically determined to be 4 or more. The NSQ score showed a statistically significant correlation with the scores on other previously reported questionnaires for nasal symptoms. Our results suggested the NSQ as a useful questionnaire for easy evaluation of the condition of patients suffering from nasal symptoms.
