Risk factors for nasal polyps

Risk Factors for Nasal Polyps

Nasal polyps might affect people of any age, but they're most commonly encountered in adults over age 40, and so are twice as prone to affect men as women. They rarely affect children under age 10. When young children develop nasal polyps, cystic fibrosis should be taken into consideration being a possible diagnosis.
Although nasal polyps are associated with allergic rhinitis, asthma, aspirin allergy, sinus infections, acute and chronic infections, a foreign body supplied in the nose, and cystic fibrosis, many times the source is unknown. Sometimes, the formation of nasal polyps precedes the building of asthma or sinusitis.
Some researchers theorize that warning signs of allergies -- including runny nose, sneezing, and itching -- predispose others to develop nasal polyps. Other researchers theorize that sinus infections -- which cause tissue swelling and diminished drainage -- lead to the formation of nasal polyps. Nonetheless the allergic connection is controversial. Research suggests that nasal polyps may develop in nearly one-third of patients with asthma but only in about 2% of patients who have got seasonal allergies lacking any diagnosis of asthma.