Particulate matter in the air is a known cause of chronic rhinosinusitis and other health risks.This case-control study of tissue samples extracted during surgeries showed links between chronic rhinosinusitis and long-term exposure to traffic-related gases like nitrogen dioxide.The study could not determine causal relationships.
Exposure to traffic-related gases was associated with increased chronic rhinosinusitis risk, a case-control study showed, supporting a role for pollutants beyond particulate matter.
Each standard deviation increase in exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2, from high-temperature fuel combustion) at one's home address averaged over 5 years correlated with more than double the odds of chronic rhinosinusitis (adjusted OR [aOR] 2.32, 95% CI 1.09-4.93) independent of demographics, smoking history, use of steroid medication, and comorbidities.
The association was nearly the same with benzene exposure, which comes from gasoline evaporation and incomplete combustion (aOR 2.15 per standard deviation, 95% CI 1.05-4.38), while airborne lead levels had an even stronger association with chronic rhinosinusitis (aOR 3.48, 95% CI 1.36-8.88), Jivianne T. Lee, MD, of the University of California Los Angeles, and colleagues reported in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery.
