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Received Jan 18, 2018; Accepted May 17, 2018
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1. Introduction
Sinusitis is a common disease caused by inflammation of the sinus because of infection or allergy; it is classified as acute or chronic sinusitis based on the duration of the disease. It may cause nasal discharge, nasal obstruction, hyposmia, cough, headache, facial pain, fever, and so on. It is difficult to distinguish sinusitis from rhinitis without an endoscopic examination or imaging examination such as computed tomography (CT). The European Position Paper on Rhinosinusitis and Nasal Polyps (EP3OS) incorporates symptomatic and endoscopic criteria into the clinical diagnosis of rhinosinusitis [1]; sinusitis staging is usually performed with CT. However, the definition of rhinosinusitis is often based only on symptoms in epidemiological studies. Kim et al. reported that the prevalence of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) was 10.8% when diagnosed by symptoms only; however, it was 1.2% when diagnosed by symptoms and endoscopy in a Korean population [2].
Various risk factors for sinusitis have been reported previously. Anatomical variations of the sinonasal disease; hazardous environmental and occupational exposures; genetic background; allergic diseases such as allergic rhinitis, asthma, and atopy; immunodeficiency; and smoking were reported as risk factors [1, 3–12]. However, few studies have investigated the associations between sinusitis and medical history in a population-based study.
The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of MRI abnormalities which were suspected as sinusitis in a community-dwelling middle-aged and elderly Japanese population and to identify risk factors for the MRI abnormality.
2. Methods
2.1. Participants and Data Collection
The subjects enrolled in this study were those who participated in the 7th wave of the National Institute for Longevity Sciences, Longitudinal Study for Aging (NILS-LSA) from July 2010 to July 2012. The NILS-LSA was a community-based random sample study on aging and age-related diseases that aimed to represent the total middle-aged and elderly Japanese population. The lifestyle of residents in this area is typical of most individuals in Japan. Main purpose of NILS-LSA is systematic observation and description of the process of normal aging in humans. The normal aging process was assessed...