Panama City Reporter

• Research has found that inflammation, which comes with chronic sinusitis, can alter brain activity.
• This can cause symptoms such as difficulty concentrating and depression.
• In older patients, chronic sinusitis has been linked to dementia.

Dr. Matthew Blair of Gulf Coast Breathe Free Sinus & Allergy Centers said that suffering from chronic sinusitis can negatively affect his patients' quality of life in multiple ways. But fortunately there are treatment options available, and once the sinusitis is treated, the rest of the side effects should be resolved as well. 

"Nasal obstruction, chronic sinusitis or chronic allergies really affect one's quality of life," Blair told the Panama City Reporter. "If you have a poor outlook on life because you're always suffering from allergies or sinusitis, it's going to affect the rest of your general health. If you can get your nose in tiptop shape, you're going to feel better, and you'll want to do more things, and you're going to overall improve your quality of health."

A study conducted by University of Washington School of Medicine found that chronic sinusitis, which affects approximately 11% of American adults, causes inflammation that is linked to changes in brain activity. These changes can cause patients to experience depression and have difficulty concentrating.

Dr. Kristina Simonyan, a coauthor of the study, said examining brain scans of patients revealed that "subjective feelings of attention decline, difficulties (in focusing) or sleep disturbances that a person with sinus inflammation experiences might be associated with subtle changes in how brain regions controlling these functions communicate with one another. It is also possible that we might have detected the early markers of a cognitive decline where sinus inflammation acts as a predisposing trigger or predictive factor."

In addition to physical symptoms -- such as congestion, facial pain and headaches -- some studies have found a link between chronic sinusitis and neurodegeneration in older patients, according to the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. Researchers have found that the cognitive impairment caused by chronic sinusitis could perpetuate the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's is the leading cause of dementia, and it can cause progressive memory loss and personality changes.

One surgical treatment option for chronic sinusitis sufferers is balloon sinuplasty. A balloon sinuplasty procedure takes only 10 to 15 minutes, and patients typically recover within one to two days. Most patients can resume their normal activities in that time period, although they may experience some swelling for up to a week, according to Eisemann Plastic Surgery Center.

To learn more about the symptoms of sinusitis and allergies, take this Sinus Self-Assessment Quiz.