Seasonal Variation of Epistaxis in Germany

Providing Evidence for Dogma: Risk of Epistaxis After COVID-19 Nasal-Screening Swab

OBJECTIVE

There is anecdotal evidence SARS-CoV-2 (COVID) RT-PCR screening nasal swabs confer an elevated epistaxis risk. We aimed to assess the association between epistaxis and exposure to a COVID nasal swab.

STUDY DESIGN

A matched pairs design was used.

SETTING

The study was performed in a single, integrated healthcare system.

METHODS

All patients who received a single COVID nasal swab at our institution between April 2020 and March 2021 were included. McNemar's test was used to compare rates of epistaxis between the 7 days following the index COVID swab (hazard period), and the 7 days preceding the index COVID swab (control period). Conditional logistic regression was used to evaluate sociodemographic and clinical risk factors for epistaxis.

RESULTS

A total of 827,987 participants were included, with 1047 epistaxis encounters. The prevalence of epistaxis during the hazard and control periods were 0.08% and 0.04%, respectively. Swab exposure was associated with 1.92-fold odds of epistaxis during the hazard period (95% confidence interval [1.73, 2.12]). Older age, Asian/Pacific Islander (PI) (compared to white), male sex, hypertension, prior facial trauma, and warfarin or direct-acting oral anticoagulant use were also associated with significantly increased odds of epistaxis (p ≦ 0.01).

CONCLUSION

COVID nasal swabs are associated with increased odds of epistaxis. Physicians should counsel patients, particularly those at the highest risk, including a history of prior facial trauma, anticoagulants/antiplatelets, or hypertension.

Are laboratory evaluations required in every case admitted to the pediatric emergency department with epistaxis?

BACKGROUND

Epistaxis is a mostly self-limiting condition common among children and is rarely severe. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the incidence, demographic characteristics, causes of bleeding and treatment methods of patients who presented to the pediatric emergency department (PED) with epistaxis, and to determine in which cases a laboratory test should be used.

METHOD

Admitted to Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, PED which provides trauma care and is a tertiary hospital, from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019, 452 patients aged 0-18 years who presented with epistaxis for any reason or secondary to systemic disease were analysed retrospectively.

RESULTS

The annual incidence was found at 1.23%. The median age was 5.25 years, 258 of the cases (57.1%) were male. It was found that the cases most frequently applied to the hospital in the autumn months (37.6%). Sixty of the patients (13.3%) had a chronic disease and 54 (11.9%) had a history of drug use. Bleeding time was less than 5 minutes in 75.2% and 84.4% of the bleeding was unilateral. Nasal bleeding is local in 73.4%; 4.7% of them developed because of systemic reasons. The most common cause of epistaxis; while they were trauma at the first 10 years of age, they were idiopathic causes after the age of 10 years. In 434 (96%) of the patients, epistaxis spontaneously stopped and there was no need for additional treatment.

CONCLUSION

As a result of this study, it was concluded that laboratory tests should be performed in cases with chronic disease history, bilateral bleeding, active bleeding and nontraumatic epistaxis. The situation that causes epistaxis in the childhood age group should be determined with a good history and physical examination, laboratory tests should not be used in every patient.

[Risk profile analysis of stationary epistaxis patients]

BACKGROUND

 Epistaxis is a disease well known to general practitioners and ENT specialists in the outpatient sector as well as in hospitals. The aim of this study was to analyze data of patients that were treated as inpatients at the ENT university hospital Freiburg between 2014-2018.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

 This retrospective study analyzes data of admitted patients with epistaxis regarding age, medication, bleeding site, underlying health conditions, radiological imaging and treatment. Risk factors for longer inpatient length of stay and readmission were identified.

RESULTS

 Median length of stay was 3.5 days. 55 % of the patients suffered from posterior epistaxis. 72.3 % of patients were treated with anticoagulants at the time of admission. The most prevalent medical conditions were hypertension (66 %) and arrhythmia due to atrial fibrillation (36.1 %). 63.5 % of the patients were treated by nasal packing. 97 patients (14.6 %) had to be treated surgically. Surgical treatment, transfusion, posterior epistaxis and anticoagulant treatment were risk factors for longer length of inpatient stay. Preexisting hypertension, posterior bleeding and single anticoagulant treatment increased the risk of readmission.

CONCLUSIONS

 Determination and consideration of risk factors allow identification of patients at risk of longer inpatient length of stay and readmission. Adequate management accounting for risk profiles of patients could help reduce morbidity.

Epistaxis as a marker for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 status - a prospective study

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the prevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection in patients presenting with epistaxis to a tertiary otolaryngology unit.

METHODS

A prospective study was conducted of 40 consecutive patients presenting with epistaxis referred to our tertiary otolaryngology unit. A group of 40 age-matched controls were also included. All patients underwent real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2. Symptoms of fever, cough and anosmia were noted in the study group.

RESULTS

The mean age was 66.5 ± 22.4 years in the study group. There were 22 males (55 per cent) and 18 females (45 per cent). The mean age in the control group was 66.3 ± 22.4 years (p = 0.935). There were six positive cases for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (15 per cent) in the epistaxis group and one case (2.5 per cent) in the control group. The difference was statistically significant (p = 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Epistaxis may represent a presenting symptom of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection. This may serve as a useful additional criterion for screening patients.

Demographic data and seasonal variation in peripheral vestibular disorders in ENT practices in Germany

AIM

The aim of this study was to analyze the demographic data pertaining to and seasonal variation in specific vestibular disorders in ear, nose, and throat (ENT) practices in Germany based on data from a representative nationwide practice database.

METHOD

The study sample included patients from 116 ENT practices in Germany who received an initial diagnosis (ICD-10 code) of Meniere's disease (MD, H81.0), benign paroxysmal positioning vertigo (BPPV, H81.1), or vestibular neuronitis (VN, H81.2) between January 2014 and December 2016. Collected parameters included age, sex, and month of diagnosis. Seasonal variation was analyzed for younger vs. older patients (≤50 vs. >50 years of age). Two univariate Poisson regression models were fitted to estimate the association between the month of diagnosis and the number of diagnosed patients per practice.

RESULTS

A total of 20,720 patients were available for analysis. The average case numbers for MD, BPPV, and VN were 0.8 patients, 2.7 patients, and 1.5 patients per practice per month, respectively. The mean ages of female vs. male patients were 55 and 56 years (MD), 59 and 60 years (BPPV), and 58 and 57 years (VN), respectively. The proportions of female patients with these diagnoses were 62%, 70%, and 61%, respectively. All diagnoses were evenly distributed throughout the years in all age groups. No seasonal variation was observed.

CONCLUSIONS

The demographic data of MD and BPPV patients are comparable to those found by previous large-scale epidemiologic studies. However, no seasonal variation was demonstrated for any vestibular disorder in this large sample.