Patients with nasal septal deviation have a higher incidence of asthma and correction of the septal deviation reduced the risk of asthma, suggests a recent study from South Korea published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice.¹

Researchers conducted an observational study to explore the effects of septal deviation on the incidence of asthma and whether septoplasty had any impact on the incidence of asthma in these patients. For this, they enrolled 29,853 persons from the National Health Insurance Service – National Sample Cohort (NHIS-NSC) database, which includes data of more than one million people. A total of 9951 patients had septal deviation, while 19,902 patients did not have septal deviation and constituted the control group. The follow up period was 9 years (2005-2013).

Compared to the control group, patients with septal deviation had a higher incidence for asthma with adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of 2.43. Out of the 9951 patients with septal deviation, 1526 underwent septoplasty between 2002 and 2004. At 9 years, the aHR for asthma reduced to 0.83 after surgical correction of septal deviation.

Patients with septal deviation also had high incidence of allergic rhinitis (aHR 1.58) and chronic rhinosinusitis (aHR 1.22) on subgroup analysis for underlying diseases. The incidence of asthma was 1.13 times higher in patients with septal deviation and comorbid hypertension. The aHR of male patients was 0.70 and that for the young participants was 0.64.

This observational study has demonstrated a higher incidence of asthma in patients with septal deviation consequent to the “structural alteration of the upper airway” and also nasal congestion, which may aggravate the symptoms of asthma. It has further shown that septoplasty was associated with a lower incidence of asthma. These findings suggest that septal deviation is a manageable condition in patients with asthma. Hence, asthmatic patients should be examined for septal deviation as surgical correction can favorably impact their asthma.

Reference

1. You YS, et al. Septal deviation could be associated with the development of bronchial asthma: A nationwide cohort study. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2022 Apr;10(4):1099-1101.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jaip.2021.11.002.