Objectives: To design a Spanish questionnaire to assess quality of life in chronic obstructive sialadenitis (COS), named CSOC and assess its reliability, validity and feasibility. Design: A prospective, multicentre, observational study Settings: Salivary Gland Disorder and Sialendoscopy Unit, University Tertiary Hospital. Participants: Patients with diagnosis of COS and indication for sialendoscopy were included in the study. Main outcome measures: The item generation process included a review of published data as well as interviews with patients. An expert panel then tested the content validity of the instrument and the construct validity was tested in 120 patients. Patients completed a self-administered CSOC questionnaire, a Short Form-36 and a Visual Analogue Scale. Feasibility, reliability, internal consistency, construct validity and responsiveness were assessed. Results: All the patients found the instrument understandable. Cronbach α coefficient was high (0.85). The time required to fill out was 5.7 and 4.5 minutes for pre and postsialendoscopy CSOC respectively. Cronbach α coefficient was very high for both pre and postsialendoscopy CSOC (0.90 and 0.94 respectively). The correlation with the SF-36 dimensions was negative and positive with the VAS. The mean score of CSOC was 28.6 and 7.98 for pre and postsialendoscopy Conclusions: The CSOC questionnaire is understandable, feasible, reliable and representative of quality of life in COS. Keywords: sialadenitis, QOL, questionnaire, validation, sialendoscopy

Blanca Barroso

and 25 more

Background. Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP), characterized by partial (hyposmia) or total (anosmia) loss of smell, is commonly associated with asthma and/or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug-exacerbated respiratory disease (N-ERD), worsens disease severity and quality of life. The objective of this study was to determine whether, in real-life conditions, biological treatments prescribed for severe asthma can improve olfaction in patients with CRSwNP. A further objective was to compare smell improvement in N-ERD and non-N-ERD subgroups. Methods. A multicenter, non-interventional, retrospective, observational study was performed, including 206 patients with severe asthma undergoing biological treatment (omalizumab, mepolizumab, benralizumab, or reslizumab) with CRSwNP. Results. Improved olfaction was found after treatment with all monoclonal antibodies: omalizumab (35.8%), mepolizumab (35.4%), reslizumab (35.7%), and benralizumab (39.1%), with no differences between groups. Patients with atopy, greater use of short course systemic corticosteroids, and larger polyp size were more likely to experience improvement in smell. The proportion of patients experiencing smell improvement was similar between the N-ERD (37%) and non-N-ERD (35.7%) groups. Conclusions. This is the first study to compare real-life improvement in sense of smell among patients undergoing long-term treatment with omalizumab, mepolizumab, reslizumab, or benralizumab for severe asthma and associated CRSwNP. Approximately 4 out of 10 patients reported a subjective improvement in sense of smell (with non-significant differences between biologic drugs). No differences were found in smell improvement between the N-ERD and non-N-ERD group.
Objetives: The rate of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) diagnosis is increasing. This study aims to determine the incidence of EoE in the paediatric population residing in the southwestern Madrid and to analyse whether absolute monthly pollen counts, modified or not by the principal atmospheric pollutants, are associated with it. Methods: A prospective observational study was designed to calculate the incidence of EoE in children aged under 15 years who were diagnosed between September 2014 and August 2016 in twelve area hospitals. We collected clinical data, date of endoscopic diagnosis and the number of first-time endoscopies performed. Relative risk estimation was performed to assess the association between the incidence of diagnosis and monthly pollen counts and levels of atmospheric pollutants. Results: One hundred forty-eight patients were included. The most frequent symptoms were abdominal pain 42.57%, dysphagia 42.57% and impaction 39-86%. The average overall monthly incidence was 1.27 (0.41-2.67) cases/100,000 children and the annual average was 15.2. The overall analysis of the relationship between incidence and absolute monthly counts and air pollutants, corrected for the number of first-time endoscopies performed, revealed no statistically significant association. There was a higher frequency of diagnosis during the pollination period of Cupressaceae and during February and November (relative risk 1.67; p<0.01). Conclusions: This study confirms the high incidence of eosinophilic esophagitis and also suggest a period of higher incidence of diagnosis in the months of February and November as well as in the period of high pollination of Cupressaceae.