Obesity is Associated with Increased Risk of New‐Onset Chronic Rhinosinusitis: A United States Population‐Based Cohort Study

Abstract

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to determine the risk of a new‐encounter diagnosis of unspecified chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), CRS with nasal polyps (CRSwNP), and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) 1 and 2 years following body mass index (BMI) classification of obesity utilizing a large‐population‐based analytics platform.Study DesignRetrospective cohort analysisSettingThe U.S. Collaborative Network within the TriNetX Analytics platform contains deidentified electronic health record (EHR) data of more than 100 million patients and was used to determine the association between obesity and a new encounter diagnosis of 3 CRS phenotypes in this study.ResultsAfter 1:1 propensity score matching, patients with an overweight BMI and obesity were at a higher risk for a new‐encounter diagnosis of unspecified CRS and CRSwNP compared to healthy‐weight individuals. The obesity cohort had the greatest increased risk of new‐onset unspecified CRS with a relative risk of 1.23 (95% CI: 1.20‐1.25) and 1.26 (95% CI: 1.24‐1.28) 1 and 2 years following BMI classification, respectively.ConclusionOur study indicates an association between obesity and new‐onset unspecified CRS and CRSwNP. With the increasing prevalence of obesity in the United States population, it will be important to understand how obesity‐associated CRS may affect treatment response. Future prospective studies are needed to assess causality and define a mechanistic link.