Predictive factors of patients’ general quality of life after nasal septoplasty

Purpose Although septoplasty is considered to be the definitive treatment of septal deviation and is associated with an increase of nasal patency, patients are not always satisfied with the surgical outcome as assessed by its effect on their general Quality of Life (QOL).The aim of this study was to identify the predictive factors that influence the patients’ QOL after surgery. Methods 60 patients with nasal obstruction and septal deviation were enrolled in this prospective study, and they all completed the follow-up survey of 6 postoperative months. Symptom severity (Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation—NOSE, Sino nasal outcome test 22—SNOT-22), sleep quality (Epworth Sleepiness Scale—ESS), olfactory function (Threshold Discrimination Identification—TDI score), voice quality (Nasalance score and Voice Handicap Index—VHI), stress (SQ test) and emotional status (Beck Depression Index—BDI) were evaluated as predictive factors of patients’ QOL (Glasgow Benefit Inventory—GBI) postoperatively. We also analyzed age, gender, smoking, socioeconomic status, type of septal deviation and changes of nasal patency (with the use of rhinomanometry, acoustic rhinometry, and peak nasal inspiratory flow). Results From all the analyzed parameters, the nasal obstruction symptom severity, the sleep quality, and stress levels were only significantly associated with patients’ overall QOL ( p