Severity of Rhinosinusitis: Comparison Between Visual Analog Scale Given by Patients and Otorhinolaryngologists

Background Visual Analog Scale (VAS) as determined by the patient is recommended by the European Position Paper on Rhinosinusitis and Nasal Polyps 2012 in evaluation of the total severity of the chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) patients’ symptoms. Objective To evaluate the correlation between evaluations performed by otorhinolaryngologists and CRS patients with commonly used systems. Methods Scores of VAS and Sino-Nasal Outcome Test-20 (SNOT-20) Chinese version were obtained from 110 CRS patients with nasal polyps (CRSwNPs, n = 61) and without nasal polyps (CRSsNPs, n = 49) before surgery, which were compared with scores of Lund–Kennedy endoscopic staging system, the Lund–Mackay computed tomography (CT) staging system, and VAS from 3 attending otorhinolaryngologists. Results The median VAS scores given by CRS patients (6.0; 4.25–7.5) do not correlate significantly with the VAS scores by the 3 otorhinolaryngologists (5.5; 4.83–6.5) with a correlation coefficient of .218 (−0.146 to 0.466). For CRS patients, there was only a moderate correlation between scores of VAS and the SNOT-20 (r = .37), and no significant difference of VAS scores between CRSwNP and CRSsNP, and between unilateral and bilateral nasal polys. For otorhinolaryngologists, a higher median VAS score was found in CRSwNP (6.0; 5.17–7.0), especially in bilateral (6.0; 5.0–7.08) and revision surgery (6.08; 5.33–7.63). The VAS scores of otorhinolaryngologists correlated significantly with the Lund–Mackay CT score (r = .7536) and Lund–Kennedy endoscopic staging (r = .5947). Conclusions VAS scores between patients and physicians are not correlated significantly in this study, but they fall within the same therapeutic range and do not change the clinical management of the patients.