(1216) Gauging Sinonasal Symptoms Within the Black Community of Los Angeles

Introduction: While sinonasal symptoms are prevalent in the general population, there is a notable gap in research concerning their prevalence in minoritized communities. The study aims to assess the severity of sinonasal disease symptoms in the Black community of Los Angeles and evaluate their accessibility to healthcare services.

Methods: Our cohort comprised a convenient sample of self-identified Black or African American individuals within Los Angeles County who completed an English or Spanish survey between January 2023 and 2024. The survey, distributed in public settings, encompassed demographic information, validated SNOT-22 and NOSE-5 scales to assess sinonasal symptom severity, and health access questions. Descriptive statistics were performed using GraphPad, with continuous variables expressed as means and standard deviations and categorical variables as percentages.

Results: Men comprised a majority (63.6%) of our cohort of 66 respondents, with most individuals (51%) having at least a college degree education and about half (47.1%) of participants earning less than $50,000 annually. The mean NOSE scale score was 29.27 +/- SD 19.48, while the mean SNOT-22 was 22.6 +/- SD 7.84. Most respondents (52.6%) did not receive medical care for their symptoms. Also, over two-thirds (68.4%) of those surveyed either had not heard of an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) doctor before or had not visited one for their symptoms, despite 90.2% of participants having medical insurance and a similar majority (89.5%) noting it was easy to access medical care at a doctor’s office or hospital. Over half (60.5%) of individuals reported needing to experience fairly bad to severe sinonasal symptoms before seeing a doctor.

Conclusions: Black and African American individuals surveyed reported, on average, moderate subjective measures of sinonasal symptoms. A significant proportion did not seek medical care, potentially driven by the perception that their symptoms do not warrant a physician visit due to their perceived severity.