Sinusitis unexpectedly increased the risk of arthritis by 40%
Within a 10-year field of sinusitis, a person can develop a rheumatic disease such as arthritis. The link between the diagnoses was discovered by researchers from the USA.
In sinusitis, one or more of the mucous membranes of the paranasal sinuses become inflamed. These are small cavities behind the cheekbones and forehead that hold air. From previous studies, we know that various lung irritants, which include air pollution and respiratory infections, may be associated with the development of rheumatoid arthritis. However, whether other rheumatic diseases can arise from suffering from sinusitis has not been understood.
Scientists from the Mayo Clinic (USA) and Harvard Medical School (USA) conducted a study and found that sinusitis increases the risk of rheumatic diseases by 40 per cent. The corresponding scientific article was published by the journal RMD Open.
The researchers studied data from the Rochester Epidemiological Project, which were medical records of more than half a million people, made from 1966 to 2014. All patients lived in Olmsted County, Minnesota. The sample included 1,729 adults with a median age of 63 years who were diagnosed with various rheumatic diseases:
- rheumatoid arthritis,
- antiphospholipid syndrome,
- Sjögren's syndrome,
- vasculitis,
- gigantocellular arteritis,
- rheumatic polymyalgia (muscle pain and stiffness).
Data from each person in the sample were compared with information on three patients of the same sex and age at the time of diagnosis but without rheumatic disease. Other factors that may have influenced the onset of disease were also taken into account: body mass index, smoking, race, and ethnicity. The association between sinusitis and rheumatic diseases was strongest in people who had never smoked.
On average, patients developed rheumatic disease slightly later than seven and a half years after an episode of sinusitis. If there was a history of sinusitis, the risk of any of the above diseases rose by up to 40 per cent. The strongest association was with autoimmune rheumatic diseases: antiphospholipid syndrome (seven times higher risk) and Sjögren's syndrome (more than twice the risk). The more often people had sinusitis, the greater the increase in the likelihood of a rheumatic diagnosis.
The researchers emphasised that their work has a number of limitations. For example, two-thirds of the sample were women, there were more white patients than other races, and not very many rheumatic diseases were considered. In addition, the cause-and-effect relationship may be reversed: it is possible that rheumatic diseases increase the risk of sinusitis.
However, the authors of the scientific paper explained, bacterial pathogens associated with sinusitis may also be related to rheumatic diseases. Sinusitis also accelerates hardening of the arteries, making its potential inflammatory effects more likely.