Clinical and therapeutic aspects of sinusitis in children with bronchial asthma.

Eighty children between 4 and 14 years of age suffering from bronchial asthma were investigated. Fifty-five of them showed clinical and radiological findings of sinusitis. Of these, 13 patients with purulent postnasal drip were treated with ampicillin, phenylephrine and triprolidine (therapy A) and for the other 42 ampicillin was replaced by beclomethasone (therapy B). Thirty-four of 55 children showed improvement in sinus X-rays; 20 children had a considerable decrease in the severity of asthma and many symptoms cleared up after the therapy for sinusitis (P less than 0.001). In conclusion, owing to the high prevalence of sinusitis in children with bronchial asthma, all asthmatic children should be investigated to check for a sinus disease.