Prevalence of pain due to rhinosinusitis : a review

Headache secondary to sinonasal disease is still overestimated in the diagnostic pathway of cephalalgia. Contrary to belief, so-called sinus headaches are fairly uncommon and seen mostly in acute sinusitis or acute exacerbations. Even though literature has written extensively about the prevalence of migraines in self-diagnosed or primary care-diagnosed sinus headache, there is only a small body of literature regarding the real prevalence of pain and headache occurring during acute and chronic sinusitis. We reviewed the current literature and clarified the differences in presentation of pain for acute and chronic sinusitis, highlighting the higher prevalence of pain in chronic rhinosinusitis without polyps versus with polyps. Furthermore, we stressed the need for a rethinking in the clinical diagnosis of sinusitis based on pain as a major symptom.