This study was done to evaluate the correlation between evaluations performed by otorhinolaryngologists and CRS patients with commonly used systems.

Scores of VAS and SNOT-20 Chinese versions were obtained from 110 CRS patients with nasal polyps and without nasal polyps before surgery, which were compared with scores of Lund–Kennedy endoscopic staging system, the Lund–Mackay CT staging system, and VAS from 3 attending otorhinolaryngologists.

The median VAS scores do not correlate significantly with the VAS scores by the 3 otorhinolaryngologists with a correlation coefficient of .218. For CRS patients, there was only a moderate correlation between scores of VAS and the SNOT-20, and no significant difference of VAS scores between CRSwNP and CRSsNP, and between unilateral and bilateral nasal polys. For otorhinolaryngologists, a higher median VAS score was found in CRSwNP, especially in bilateral and revision surgery. The VAS scores of otorhinolaryngologists correlated significantly with the Lund–Mackay CT score and Lund–Kennedy endoscopic staging.

The study concluded through its findings that VAS scores between patients and physicians are not correlated significantly in this study, but they fall within the same therapeutic range and do not change the clinical management of the patients.

Reference: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1945892420923934

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