Chronic rhinosinusitis: a comparative study of disease occurrence in North of Scotland and Southern Caribbean otolaryngology outpatient clinics over a two month period.

A comparative study of the occurrence of chronic rhinosinusitis in clinics in the North of Scotland and Southern Caribbean was performed, to test the hypothesis that patients with chronic rhinosinusitis present more commonly in temperate climates than tropical climates. The data was collected prospectively over two month periods from outpatient clinics at both sites. A higher surgical trainee or consultant otolaryngologist made the diagnosis of chronic rhinosinusitis. Eight-hundred-and-seventy-two otolaryngology outpatients were studied 311 were from Trinidad and 561 from Aberdeen. The proportion of patients presenting with chronic rhinosinusitis in both samples is similar, 54 (9.6%) patients in Aberdeen and 29 (9.3%) in Trinidad. The proportion of chronic rhinosinusitis patients with a history of allergy is greater in Trinidad 79.3% (23) than in the Aberdeen sample 50% (27). Patients with chronic rhinosinusitis were seen as commonly in otolaryngology clinics in a tropical setting as in a temperate setting.