Nasal diseases in patients over 60 years old
Between 1910 and 1990, the number of elderly outpatients (over 60 years old) visiting the Department of Otolaryngology, Kyushu University greatly increased. We selected the case records of elderly patients (over 60 years old) with a diagnosis of deviated nasal septum, epistaxis, chronic rhinitis including allergic rhinitis, nasal polyp, chronic sinusitis, cysts and tumors of the nose and sinuses from among the outpatient records for 1910, 1920, 1931, 1941, 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980 and 1990. We counted the number of patients with each nasal disease and calculated the ratio of the number of patients with each nasal disease to the total number of elderly patients that year.
The number of patients with de viated nasal septum and hypertrophic rhinitis decreased during the period. The number of the patients with nasal polyps did not change. The number of patients with epistaxis, allergic rhinitis, chronic sinusitis and cysts, and of patients being followed after tumor therapy increased during the period, but the ratios of patients with each of these diseases to the total number of elderly patients decreased, the only exception being allergic rhinitis. Allergic rhinitis was the only nasal disease whose incidence seemed to increase among elderly patients.