[Epidemiology of sinusitis seen in hospitalized patients. Apropos of 77 episodes of sinusitis among 72 patients between 1993 and 1996]

The 77 cases of sinusitis seen in 72 patients admitted to the Briançon Hospital between January 1, 1993, and June 30, 1996, were studied. One or both maxillary sinuses were involved in 96.8% of cases. Sinus aspiration was done in 95 cases. All aspirates were subjected to microbiological studies. Of the 45 aspirates that yielded positive cultures, 36 grew one or more pathogenic organisms. The most commonly isolated bacteria were Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n = 7), Streptococcus pneumoniae (n = 5), and Haemophilus influenzae (n = 5). Nosocomial sinusitis defined on a set of criteria including hospital stay duration at onset and an acute tempo of evolution contributed 32.5% of cases overall, 55.2% in the intensive care unit and 18.7% in all other departments combined. Nosocomial cases in the intensive care unit were associated with well-known risk factors, namely tracheal intubation with ventilation and presence of a nasogastric tube. Other study criteria included the type of organism recovered by culture and whether patients ventilated via a tracheal tube had the same organism in their sinus and tracheal tube aspirates. Some nonintensive care patients had none of the known risk factors for sinusitis; prompt diagnosis and treatment of these cases of sinusitis is important to avoid infectious complications, which are, however, less common than in intensive care patients.