East Indy News

• 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. Anthony Sanders of Indianapolis Sinus Center says that chronic sinusitis can cause cognitive symptoms like depression, fatigue and trouble concentrating.

"I think people who have chronic rhinosinusitis tend to have a lot of issues," Sanders told East Indy News. "Fatigue is a common symptom associated with rhinosinusitis, as is poor concentration. I think people just feel poorly, and they tend to not function as well because of that. They tend not to rest as well. Depression tends to be more prevalent in people with chronic sinusitis than without. It definitely can affect how people function in their jobs and in their lives. And I've certainly witnessed that and have also witnessed the corollary that once you help people with these symptoms, they tend to function better, feel better, function more normally."

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 during that time period, although they may experience some swelling for up to a week, according to Eisemann Plastic Surgery Center.

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