NW Riverside News

• Research has found that inflammation, which comes with chronic sinusitis, can alter brain activity.
• This can cause symptoms such as difficulty concentrating and depression.
• In older patients, chronic sinusitis has been linked to dementia.

People who suffer from chronic sinusitis frequently also experience cognitive side effects, such as trouble focusing, according to Dr. Matt Hershcovitch of SoCal Breathe Free Sinus & Allergy Centers.

"This is extremely common unfortunately," Hershcovitch told NW Riverside News. "There is a very strong link between headaches, nasal obstruction, congestion and poor cognitive function. If you've ever been sick or had a cold and then tried to do something mentally taxing, it's very difficult to concentrate on whatever it is you're trying to do and accomplish."

When most people have a cold, they rest for a few days and return to normal activities, Hershcovitch pointed out.

"Unfortunately, for people with chronic sinusitis, they have the symptoms all the time," he said. "It leads to mental and cognitive difficulties and anguish. I've had many senior patients come to me for their headaches and facial pain and also saying that they think they have onset of dementia. However, when I converse with them and examine them, they have no sign of dementia and it's actually just their perceived cognitive deficit, because they can't concentrate on things for very long because of their headaches. So there is a very, very real link between these problems."

A study conducted by University of Washington School of Medicine found that chronic sinusitis, which affects approximately 11% of American adults, causes inflammation that is linked to changes in brain activity. These changes can cause patients to experience depression and have difficulty concentrating.

Dr. Kristina Simonyan, a coauthor of the study, said examining brain scans of patients revealed that "subjective feelings of attention decline, difficulties (in focusing) or sleep disturbances that a person with sinus inflammation experiences might be associated with subtle changes in how brain regions controlling these functions communicate with one another. It is also possible that we might have detected the early markers of a cognitive decline where sinus inflammation acts as a predisposing trigger or predictive factor."

In addition to physical symptoms -- such as congestion, facial pain and headaches -- some studies have found a link between chronic sinusitis and neurodegeneration in older patients, according to the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. Researchers have found that the cognitive impairment caused by chronic sinusitis could perpetuate the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's is the leading cause of dementia, and it can cause progressive memory loss and personality changes.

One surgical treatment option for chronic sinusitis sufferers is balloon sinuplasty. A balloon sinuplasty procedure takes only 10 to 15 minutes, and patients typically recover within one to two days. Most patients can resume their normal activities during that time period, although they may experience some swelling for up to a week, according to Eisemann Plastic Surgery Center.

To learn more about the symptoms of sinusitis and allergies, take this Sinus Self-Assessment Quiz.