Vanessa L Kronzer, John M Davis, Andrew C Hanson, Jeffrey A Sparks, Elena Myasoedova, Ali Duarte-Garcia, Alicia M Hinze, Ashima Makol, Mattew J Koster, Robert Vassallo, Kenneth J Warrington, Kerry Wright, Cynthia S Crowson
Abstract
To determine whether antecedent sinusitis is associated with incident rheumatic disease.
This population-based case-control study included all individuals meeting classification criteria for rheumatic diseases between 1995 and 2014. We matched three controls to each case on age, sex and length of prior electronic health record history. The primary exposure was presence of sinusitis, ascertained by diagnosis codes (positive predictive value 96%). We fit logistic regression models to estimate ORs for incident rheumatic diseases and disease groups, adjusted for confounders.
We identified 1729 incident rheumatic disease cases and 5187 matched controls (mean age 63, 67% women, median 14 years electronic health record history). After adjustment, preceding sinusitis was associated with increased risk of several rheumatic diseases, including antiphospholipid syndrome (OR 7.0, 95% CI 1.8 to 27), Sjögren's disease (OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.1 to 5.3), vasculitis (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.9) and polymyalgia rheumatica (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.0 to 2.0). Acute sinusitis was also associated with increased risk of seronegative rheumatoid arthritis (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1 to 3.1). Sinusitis was most associated with any rheumatic disease in the 5-10 years before disease onset (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.3 to 2.3). Individuals with seven or more codes for sinusitis had the highest risk for rheumatic disease (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.3 to 2.4). In addition, the association between sinusitis and incident rheumatic diseases showed the highest point estimates for never smokers (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.3 to 2.2).
Preceding sinusitis is associated with increased incidence of rheumatic diseases, suggesting a possible role for sinus inflammation in their pathogenesis.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 211. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 12 August 2026.
All research outputs
#231,972
of 34,332,182 outputs
Outputs from RMD Open
#17
of 1,610 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#3,638
of 382,827 outputs
Outputs of similar age from RMD Open
#2
of 92 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,332,182 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,610 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 15.4. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 382,827 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 92 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its contemporaries.
