CRS & Sleep
With support from the NIH R03 grant and additional private funding, our studies are revealing the strong link between chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), sleep problems, and treatment outcomes. We found that over half of CRS patients experience sleep apnea and poor sleep quality, emphasizing the need for improved screening and management. Using objective sleep assessments, we confirmed that CRS-related sleep issues are common and often underestimated. Our results also show that inflammation, especially elevated IL-6 levels, plays a key role in these disruptions and impacts treatment response. We also discovered that therapies like exhalation-delivered nasal steroids significantly enhance both sleep quality and sinonasal symptoms, with the biggest benefits observed in patients with lower IL-6 levels and no asthma. We are continuing our research to better understand how CRS, sleep apnea, inflammation, and targeted treatments interact, aiming to develop personalized strategies to improve sleep and overall quality of life for people living with CRS.