title: Short-term quality of life outcomes following pediatric septoplasty.
abstract: CONCLUSIONS
  Pediatric septoplasty may be associated with short-term symptomatic benefit. This benefit may be greater in female patients and equally achievable in young patients and using less invasive surgical approaches.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the short-term effect of pediatric septoplasty, which is not routinely performed, on sinus and nasal-specific quality-of-life.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study is a retrospective case series of 28 pediatric patients that underwent septoplasty. Pre- and post-septoplasty SN-5 overall (mean of all five items, range = 1-7) and visual analog scale (VAS; range = 0-10) scores were obtained and compared using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Comparisons of pre- to post-septoplasty changes by sex (female vs male), age (<13 vs ≥13 years), and surgical approach (open vs closed) were performed using a Mann-Whitney U-test. Median and interquartile range are reported.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall and VAS scores significantly improved from pre- to post-septoplasty (3.5 [2.8, 4.3] to 2.0 [1.4, 2.8], p < .001; 5.0 [4.0, 6.3] to 8.0 [8.0, 10.0], p < .001). Females reported significantly greater overall and VAS score improvements compared to males (-1.8 [-2.6, -1.6] compared to -1.0 [-1.6, -0.2], p = .01; 5.0 [4.0, 5.0] compared to 3.0 [1.5, 4.0], p = .007). Comparisons of changes by age and surgical approach were not significantly different.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology , University of Washington and Seattle Children's , Seattle , WA , USA.
authors.forename: Victoria S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology , University of Washington and Seattle Children's , Seattle , WA , USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Gold
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology , University of Washington and Seattle Children's , Seattle , WA , USA.
authors.forename: Sanjay R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Parikh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009300:Nasal Septum / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: SN-5; pediatric; quality-of-life; septoplasty; visual analog scale