Washington, Dec 5 (ANI): A recent study has revealed that taking some common treatments of acute sinus including an antibiotic and a topical steroid may do you no good.

Acute sinusitis (sinus infection) is a common clinical problem with symptoms similar to other illnesses, and is often diagnosed and treated without clinical confirmation.

The research led by Ian G. Williamson, University of Southampton included 240 adults with acute nonrecurrent sinusitis treated at 58 family practices between November 2001 and November 2005.

The researchers conducted a double-blind randomised placebo-controlled trial to determine the effectiveness of the antibiotic and topical steroid in acute sinus.

The findings suggested that the proportions of patients with symptoms lasting 10 or more days were 29 percent for antibiotic and 31.4 percent for topical steroids.

Secondary analysis suggested that nasal steroids were significantly more effective in patients with less severe symptoms at baseline.

Our main conclusions are that among patients with the typical features of acute bacterial sinusitis, neither an antibiotic nor a topical steroid alone or in combination are effective in altering the symptom severity, the duration, or the natural history of the condition, said the authors.

Topical steroids are likely to be effective in those with such features but who have less severe symptoms at presentation to the physician, they added. (ANI)