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Correlation between acoustic rhinometry and visual analogue scale in children with no nasal symptoms: a prospective cohort study
Author(s) -
Haavisto L.E.,
Vahlberg T.J.,
Sipilä J.I.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
clinical otolaryngology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.914
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1749-4486
pISSN - 1749-4478
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-4486.2011.02292.x
Subject(s) - acoustic rhinometry , medicine , visual analogue scale , nose , prospective cohort study , correlation , cross sectional study , anesthesia , surgery , geometry , mathematics , pathology
Clin. Otolaryngol. 2011, 36 , 129–133 Objectives: Acoustic rhinometry is an objective tool to evaluate nasal obstruction. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of visual analogue scale (VAS) as a subjective tool for nasal obstruction and the correlation between acoustic rhinometry and VAS in children with no nasal symptoms. Design: Unilateral acoustic values and VAS were measured at baseline and after decongestion of the nose. Setting: Tertiary academic hospital. Participants: The study included 124 children aged between 7 and 14 years with no permanent nasal symptoms. Results: At baseline, the mean minimal cross‐sectional area on the right side was 0.392 cm 2 ( sd 0.094), and on the left side 0.360 cm 2 ( sd 0.093), whereas the mean VAS on the right side was 7.43 ( sd 2.50) and on the left side 6.81 ( sd 3.01). After decongestion, the mean minimal cross‐sectional area on the right and left sides were 0.421 cm 2 ( sd 0.087) and 0.373 cm 2 ( sd 0.11), respectively, whereas the mean VAS on the right and left sides were 8.77 ( sd 2.02) and 8.54 ( sd 2.14), respectively. At baseline, a significant correlation was found between VAS and minimal cross‐sectional area, but no correlation was found between VAS and acoustic values after decongestion. Conclusions: We conclude that VAS shows potential as a subjective tool to investigate nasal obstruction in children over 7 years of age. There was a correlation between VAS and acoustic rhinometry in children with no nasal symptoms at baseline. No correlation was found in children with decongested normal nasal airways.