The complications of sinusitis in a tertiary care hospital: types, patient characteristics, and outcomes.

Objective. To study the complications of sinusitis in a referral hospital and the outcome of the treatment according to the type of complication. Methods. A retrospective study was performed on patients with sinusitis who were admitted to a referral hospital from 2003 to 2012. The data for the sinusitis patients who had complications were reviewed. Results and Discussion. Eighty-five patients were included in the study, of whom 50 were male (58.8%). Fourteen of the cases were less than 15 years old, and 27 of the patients (31.7%) had more than one type of complication. The most common complication was of the orbital type (100% in the children, 38% in the adults). After the treatment, all of the children and 45 of the adults (63.4%) recovered, eight of the adult patients died (11.3%), and 18 of the adults were cured with morbidity (25.3%). The patients with more numerous complications had poorer outcomes. When the types of complications were compared (adjusted for age, gender, and comorbidities), the intracranial complication was the only one that was statistically significant for mortality. Conclusion. The outcomes of the treatment depended on the number and type of complications, with the poorest results achieved in cases of intracranial complications.