Does Weather Temperatures Influence Patient Sickness Levels?

According to a new Harvard Medical School Study it does. In a research paper called "Does annual temperature influence the prevalence of otolaryngologic respiratory diseases?" published in the July 2009 Laryngoscope, the author analyzed the prevalence of upper respiratory diseases between the years 1998 to 2006.

What was found by regression analysis through the study years was that there was no significant relationship between average annual temperature and the prevalence of disease for hay fever, jaw pain, or chronic bronchitis. HOWEVER, a statistically significant but small regression coefficient (0.004) was noted for an increasing prevalence of sinusitis with increasing annual temperature (P = .031).

Given global warming is occurring, this does have impact on overall population health and quality of life as temperatures slowly rise. Yet another reason to fight global warming. It is making us more sick!

Image above taken from here.

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New Webpage on the Evaluation and Treatment of Nasal Polyps

A new webpage has been posted describing nasal polyps and how they are treated. The most common cause of nasal polyps is allergies and though surgery may remove all nasal polyps, they WILL come back unless underlying allergies are aggressively contolled by medications and allergy shots. Click here to read more.

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Dr. Chang Quoted in Middleburg Eccentric Newspaper

Dr. Chang has been quoted in the Middleburg Eccentric newspaper. Click on the image to read the article. Yes... we know... they spelled his last name wrong...

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Rise In MRSA Head & Neck Infections Among American Kids

MRSA infections among American children increased during a five-year-period up to the end of 2006, according to an article published in Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, January 2009 issue.

The article explains that up to 1980, MRSA infections were generally acquired in hospital. But, over the last decade, community-acquired MRSA (ca-MRSA) infections have become significantly more common in nursing homes, prisons, and among chronically ill patients and in individuals considered to be low risk.

In recent years, there have been increasing reports of community-acquired MRSA infections in children involving the head and neck.

Iman Naseri, M.D., Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta looked at data regarding pediatric head and neck infections that took place at over 300 hospitals across the USA during the period 2001 - 2006. Infection sites were divided into oropharyngeal/neck (head and neck), sinonasal (nose and sinuses) and otologic (ear), and demographic and antibiotic resistance patterns were reviewed.

21.6% of the 21,009 S. aureus infections that occurred during this period were MRSA. These rates rose from 11.8% to 28.1% during that five-year period. 34% of MRSA infections were found in the ears, 28.3% sinonasal, and 14.2% head and neck.

Let's hope that this disturbing trend does not continue and it reinforces the need to give antibiotics ONLY if a true bacterial infection exists and not for colds, URIs, laryngitis, etc for which antibiotics are worthless.

Click here to read more.

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New Video on Pediatric Nasal Saline Flushes

A new video has been created showing a young child performing saline flushes to his nose without assistance. Indeed, kids older than 5 years are able to tolerate flushes without difficulty. A nasal saline flush kit using the Neilmed Sinus Rinse bottle is shown here. This video can also be found on YouTube.



There are also devices that perform the same thing:

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Video on How to Perform a Saline Sinus Flush

Given the dearth of video on the internet showing exactly how to perform a saline sinus flush using the NeilMed Sinus Rinse bottle, our practice has gone ahead and made one for educational purposes. It has been posted on our YouTube channel, but can be viewed below as well. Click here to go directly to the YouTube video. This link can also be found on our website here.

Instructions on making your own saltwater using home kitchen supplies can be found here.

Saline sinus flushes are generally recommended to patients who have chronic sinusitis or allergy problems which can help alleviate and/or even eliminate symptoms. Children from the age of 5 years and older are able to perform this procedure as well without any difficulty.



There are also devices that perform the same thing:

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2 New Webpages Created on Snoring, OSA, and Sinusitis

Two new webpages have been added to our website. The first new webpage describes where snoring comes from and how it is treated. Obstrutive sleep apnea as how it relates to snoring is also discussed. Click here to check it out!

The other new webpage added describes sinusitis. CT scan of normal as well as abnormal sinuses are shown. Check it out here!

Our office provides complete management (medical to surgical) of sinusitis whatever its cause.

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