Nasal polyposis and its impact on quality of life:: comparison between the effects of medical and surgical treatments

Background: Nasal polyposis (NP) is not a life-threatening disorder but may have a great impact on the quality of life (QoL). The objective of this study: (i) to investigate the health burden incurred by NP compared with the Spanish general population using the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire; (ii) to compare the QoL outcome after medical or surgical treatment; and (iii) to assess and compare the effect of medical and surgical treatment on nasal symptoms. Methods: About 109 patients with nasal polyps were included. Fifty-three patients were randomly allocated to receive oral prednisone for 2 weeks and 56 to undergo endoscopic sinus surgery. All patients administered intranasal budesonide for 12 months. Patients were evaluated for nasal symptoms, polyp size, and QoL. Results: In comparison with the Spanish general population, patients with NP had worse scores on all SF-36 domains except for physical functioning. Nonasthmatic patients with NP had better QoL than asthmatic patients with NP on role physical functioning, body pain, and vitality (P < 0.05). At 6 and 12 months, a significant improvement on all of SF-36 domains was observed after both medical and surgical treatment reaching the levels of general population (P < 0.05). Nasal symptoms and polyp size improved after both medical and surgical treatment at 6 and 12 months (P < 0.05). Conclusion: These results suggest that NP has considerable impact on a patient's QoL and that both medical and surgical treatment led to similar effects in improving QoL.