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Scientific Oral Presentations

Pediatric Otolaryngology

Session: Scientific Oral Presentations 6 - Pediatric Otolaryngology

Complicated Sinusitis in Children Following the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Single Institutional Experience

Monday, September 30, 2024
2:30 PM – 2:36 PM EDT
Location: MBCC, 225
Disclosure(s):
Rohit Nallani, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Mackenzie T. O'Donnell, BS:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Nathan S. Farrokhian, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Michael E. Price, MD, PhD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

David M. Garcia, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Jill M. Arganbright, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Introduction: Complicated sinusitis in children represents a serious infection that often requires surgical intervention in addition to medical management. We aimed to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on frequency of complicated sinusitis requiring surgical intervention.

Methods: We performed a chart review of all children under age 18 treated surgically for sinonasal disease at a tertiary children’s hospital between January 1, 2017 and January 1, 2023. We excluded cases due to chronic sinus disease, trauma, sinonasal masses, or fungal sinusitis. The pre-COVID-19 cohort (pre-COVID) was defined as children treated surgically for complicated sinusitis before March 10, 2020, and the post-COVID-19 (post-COVID) group included children diagnosed on or after March 11, 2020. Demographics and clinical variables including comorbidities, orbital and neurological complications, medical and surgical treatments, and radiographic imaging were systematically collected.

Results: During the period reviewed, there were a total 247 patients requiring endoscopic sinus surgery with 101 (40.1%) for acute management of complicated sinusitis. In the pre-COVID group, 50 were due to complicated sinusitis while 51 were related to complicated sinusitis in the post-COVID group (32.7% vs 54.3%, p=0.001). There were significantly higher rates of intracranial complications in the post-COVID group (OR 2.53; CI 1.13-5.64), but lower rates of orbital complications (OR 0.29; CI 0.10-0.89) requiring operative intervention. There was no difference in age, sex, vascular complications, total surgical procedures performed, length of hospital stay, readmissions, or antibiotic duration.

Conclusions: Following the COVID-19 pandemic, we identified an increase in intracranial complications due to complicated sinusitis compared to pre-COVID. Larger multi-institutional studies are needed to determine if this trend was hospital or region dependent and if this increase has persisted following the end of the pandemic. Further understanding of the pathophysiology of SARS-CoV-2 in the sinonasal mucosa is also needed.

    Presenting Author(s)

  • RN

    Rohit Nallani, MD

    Resident
    University of Kansas Medical Center
    Kansas City, KS, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

  • Mackenzie T. O'Donnell, BS

    Medical Student
    University of Kansas School of Medicine
    Overland Park, KS, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

    • Co-Author(s)

  • NF

    Nathan S. Farrokhian, MD

    Resident Physician
    University of Kansas Medical Center
    Kansas City, KS, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

  • MP

    Michael E. Price, MD, PhD

    Resident
    University of Kansas Medical Center
    Kansas City, KS, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

  • MT

    Meghan Tracy

    Disclosure information not submitted.

  • David M. Garcia, MD

    Pediatric Neurosurgery
    Children's Mercy Hospital Kansas City
    Kansas City, MO, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

    • Senior Author(s)

  • Jill M. Arganbright, MD

    Pediatric Otolaryngology
    Childrens Mercy Hospital Kansas City
    Kansas City, MO, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.