Project 1: Epidemiology of CRS

Studies in Project 1 are aimed to define the epidemiology of Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) in a large (>300,000) primary care population at Geisinger Health Systems (GHS).

This project is advancing a large-scale epidemiologic study of CRS by leveraging the unique data and population assets of the Geisinger Clinic, including a primary care population of 400,000 patients in over 30 counties in Pennsylvania. We combine longitudinal self-reported and electronic health record data with new clinical and research measurements to address gaps in understanding CRS. In the proposed research, we are estimating CRS prevalence, incidence, and remission using clinically validated criteria for general population samples that represent the full spectrum of CRS; describing patterns of CRS exacerbation and remission and the factors that explain variability; determining how CRS with and without nasal polyps cases differ from each other; evaluating a variety of community environmental risk factors for CRS using existing geospatial data on key environmental conditions; and estimating the direct and indirect costs of CRS

In addition, Project 1 is identifying and recruiting phenotyped CRS patients into pathophysiological studies by obtaining DNA samples for studies in Projects 2 and 3.