Evaluation of Children Diagnosed with Acute Bacterial Sinusitis: Single-center Experience

Abstract

Objectives: Acute bacterial sinusitis (ABS) is among frequent infections in children. Its diagnosis is clinical unless a suspicion of complication exists. This study aimed to evaluate pediatricians' clinical approaches to ABS. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study analyzed diagnosis, treatment and complication data of patients diagnosed with ABS between June 2015 and June 2018 in our pediatric primary care unit. Results: The study group consisted of 536 patients [female/male 235/301 (43.8%/56.2%)]. The median age was 6.6 (7 months-17.9 years) years. Median duration of symptoms was 7 (1-46) days. Major complaints were cough (n=379, 70.7%), nasal discharge (n=234, 43.7%) and fever (n=168, 31.3%). Among 468 patients with available data, persistent (>10 days) upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) was present in 198 (42.3%) while 8 (1.7%) had severe URTI. Worsening URTI data could not be defined because of inadequate records. Duration of symptoms was <3 days in 26