Rate of intranasal steroid spray utilization 20.1 per 100 patients; geographic variation in rate
MONDAY, Aug. 29, 2016 (HealthDay News) — For adult patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), topical intranasal steroid therapy is underused, with an overall rate of utilization of 20.1 per 100 patients, according to research published online Aug. 25 in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.
Luke Rudmik, M.D., from the University of Calgary in Canada, and colleagues conducted a retrospective review of a Canadian population-based health care administrative database to examine utilization patterns of topical intranasal steroid therapy for CRS. Data were assessed for 19,057 adult patients with CRS.
The researchers found that among patients with CRS, the overall rate of intranasal steroid spray utilization was 20.1 per 100 patients. The mean quantity of utilization was 2.4 U among the 3,821 patients with CRS who used an intranasal spray during 2014 to 2015 (1 U = one bottle per month). Large geographic variation was seen in the rate and quantity of intranasal steroid spray utilization (both P < 0.001).
“Topical intranasal steroid therapy continues to be underutilized for patients with CRS,” the authors write. “Given the negative impact of low-quality medical care, outcomes from this study indicate a need to further evaluate factors leading to the underutilization of a recommended treatment in patients with CRS to improve overall health system performance.”
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