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Epidemiological and prevalence data for chronic sinusitis are relatively rare. In children, in particular, the precise incidence of chronic sinusitis has not been established. This paucity of information contrasts with the abundant literature on the microbiology, diagnosis, treatment, and the financial repercussions of chronic sinusitis.
Problems inherent to epidemiological studies
PROBLEM OF DEFINITION
The discrepancy of definitions results mainly from the use of different criteria such as symptom duration or intensity, the type of selected symptoms, and also from the need for and lack of other exploration methods such as imaging or bacteriological culture.
In the definition proposed by the International Conference on Sinus Disease in 1993 the criteria for chronic sinusitis in adults were persistent symptoms and signs for eight weeks or four episodes per year of recurrent acute sinusitis, each lasting at least 10 days, in association with persistent changes on the computed tomographic (CT) scan four weeks after medical treatment without intervening acute infection.1
The International Consensus …