Fluctuations in atmospheric temperature, humidity, and air pollution are associated with the incidence of epistaxis. To date, no study in the literature has evaluated the effect of air pollution and meteorologic conditions on the pediatric population. We aimed to evaluate the effect of meteorologic factors and air pollution on the frequency of epistaxis in children. Children presenting to an outpatient clinical setting at a tertiary care hospital during a 5-year period (July 1, 2009, to June 30, 2014) and diagnosed with epistaxis formed the study population. Daily temperature and humidity parameters and average daily atmospheric water vapor pressure, average daily concentration of particulate matter <10 µm in diameter, and sulfur dioxide readings were obtained. The distribution of daily parameters was analyzed. Of the 1,559 children with the primary diagnosis of epistaxis, data from 1,330 children were analyzed after excluding patients with coexisting pathologies. Positive correlations were found between the frequency of epistaxis and both the average daily temperature and the difference between the maximum and minimum daily temperature. There was a negative correlation between the epistaxis frequency and the average daily humidity, the difference between the maximum and minimum daily humidity, the average daily concentration of particulate matter, and the sulfur dioxide levels. Our findings suggest that epistaxis in children is related to high temperatures and low humidity.
BACKGROUND: Various surgical treatment modalities are available for inferior turbinate (IT) hypertrophy. Each is related with well-established complications, but still there is a lack of consensus on the optimal technique. Outfracture of the IT is thought to be a minimal destructive procedure among all other reductive turbinate interventions. Our aim was to assess the long term effects of IT outfracture technique in patients with mild or moderate IT hypertrophies. METHODS: Twenty ITs in 10 patients were outfractured during a septoplasty procedure. The distance of the IT bone to the lateral nasal wall was compared at 3 different levels of the nasal passage before and after (at 9 months) surgery with computed tomography scans of each patient at (1) the first section in which the IT bone could be seen entirely (anterior portion), (2) the level of the maxillary sinus ostium (middle portion), (3) the last section in which the IT bone could be seen entirely (posterior portion). RESULTS: A statistically significant degree of lateralization was observed at all levels in all patients. The mean lateralization rates were 15%, 26%, and 23% for the right side, and 26%, 29%, and 25% for the left side at first, second, and third levels, respectively. There was no bleeding, edema, or crusting due to the outfracture procedure in any patient. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that outfracture of the IT is an effective and durable technique, which can be performed easily to enlarge the nasal airway in mild and moderate IT hypertrophies with minimal morbidity.
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