Stuck in congestion? Your sinuses might be too

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-05-29 01:00

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International researchers have found that the pollution we inhale from industry and traffic could be triggering us to have stuffy noses. The team compared the sinuses of 62 people with chronic rhinosinusitis - inflammation of both the nasal passages - against 30 noses of people who didn't have the condition, while they were all under for endoscopic sinus surgery. They then gathered data on what kind of pollution the participants were exposed to. They say that traffic fumes were linked to a specific kind of immune reaction, and exposure to industrial chemicals and particulate matter was linked to a different kind of inflammation. The team suggest that different kinds of air pollution could trigger different kinds of sinus problems, which might help explain why chronic sinusitis affects people in different ways.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Stanford University School of Medicine, USA | University of California, Los Angeles, USA

Funder: This research was supported by the US Department of Defense’s congressionally directed medical research program (W81XWH-21-2-0048).

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