And different nasties cause different reactions, none of them good.
Your Back Page scrawler has endured his fair share of sinus discomfort, culminating in a successful (if somewhat traumatic) polypectomy a few years back which rendered us anosmic.
It is unsurprising then that our remaining four senses perk up a bit when we come across fresh research probing into matters of the nose, despite accepting that our personal disability is beyond rehabilitation.
What boffins from the University of California and Stanford University have discovered is something which sufferers of rhinosinusitis have long suspected, namely that different kinds of air pollution could trigger different kinds of sinus problems.
Publishing last month in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, the researchers found that pollution inhaled from traffic and industrial sources not only could kickstart inflammation of the nasal passages, but those pollutants were responsible for specific and diverse immune reactions.
To establish these findings, the research team compared the sinuses of 62 people with chronic rhinosinusitis against 30 noses of people who didn’t have the condition, while they were all under for endoscopic sinus surgery. The participants were roughly half and half male and female with an average age of 50.
They then gathered data on what kind of pollution the participants were exposed to over a period from 2022 to 2025, measuring for nasties such as nitrogen dioxide, benzene, 1,3-butadiene, chromium, lead, nickel, and zinc.
“The results of this case-control study suggest that long-term residential exposure to traffic-related and industry-related pollutants was associated with increased chronic rhinosinusitis risk and distinct cytokine signatures,” the research team said.
Traffic-related nitrogen dioxide was associated with elevated type 2 cytokines, which was consistent with a barrier alarmin type 2 pattern, the team said, while benzene and lead levels were associated with non–type 2 cytokine profiles that were characterised by innate and neutrophilic markers.
These findings suggested different kinds of air pollution could trigger different kinds of sinus problems, which might help explain why chronic sinusitis affected people in different ways, they added.
Which just goes to show that that the makers of a certain sinus decongestant back in the 1960s were not far off the mark when they suggested using their product was like “sending your sinuses to Arizona”.
Maybe remote and regional towns in Australia could use this research to market themselves a “sinus friendly” destinations?
Your long-suffering correspondent certainly wouldn’t sniff at the idea.
Send your story tips to Holly@medicalrepublic.com.au and we will follow the scent.
