Epidemiology of sinusitis in inpatients. A study of 77 cases seen in 72 patients between 1993 and 1996.

The 77 cases of sinusitis seen in 72 patients admitted to the Briancon Hosp ital between January 1, 1993, and June 30, 1996, were studied. One or both maxillary sinuses were involved in 96.8% of cases. Sinus aspiration was don e in 95 cases. All aspirates were subjected to microbiological studies. Of the 45 aspirates that yielded positive cultures, 36 grew one or more pathog enic organisms. The most commonly isolated bacteria were Pseudomonas aerugi nosa (n=7), Streptococcus pneumoniae (n=5), and Haemophilus influenzae (n=5 ). Nosocomial sinusitis defined on a set of criteria including hospital sta y duration at onset and an acute tempo of evolution contributed 32.5% of ca ses overall, 55.2% in the intensive care unit and 18.7% in all other depart ments combined. Nosocomial cases in the intensive care unit were associated with well-known risk factors, namely tracheal intubation with ventilation and presence of a nasogastric tube. Other study criteria included the type of organism recovered by culture and whether patients ventilated via a trac heal tube had the same organism in their sinus and tracheal tube aspirates. Some nonintensive cars patients had none of the known risk factors for sin usitis ; prompt diagnosis and treatment of these cases of sinusitis is impo rtant to avoid infectious complications, which are, however, less common th an in intensive care patients.