Prevalence of Middle Ear and Sinus Barotrauma between Divers in Saudi Arabia

Introduction: Diving is considered one of the most common sports around the world. Due to the popularity of this sport, physicians must be aware of related diving injuries. Most diving injuries are related to fast changes in pressure, which is known as barotrauma. This sudden change can be present in many forms, such as middle ear squeeze, inner ear barotrauma, sinus barotrauma, and pulmonary barotrauma. However, middle ear and sinus barotrauma are the most common forms. The prevalence of diving-related barotrauma has been investigated in many regions around the world; however, the prevalence of these conditions and their associated risk factors has not been investigated in Saudi Arabia. Methodology: A survey-based cross-sectional study was conducted among divers in Saudi Arabia by an anonymous, electronic questionnaire distributed formally by Scuba School International, which is considered one of the main organizations in diving around the world, and social media. Primary outcomes included self-reported prevalence and health effects of middle ear and sinus barotrauma on divers. The survey has been adapted from a published, validated survey and translated into Arabic for the study’s population. Results: The survey was distributed to 478 divers, and there were 195 participants in the survey (response rate 40.8%). 62.8% divers experienced middle ear and 54.4% sinus barotrauma while diving. Affected divers had similar symptoms, such as ear pressure 35.5% and ear pain 34% for middle ear barotrauma. In addition, maxillary pain 21.5% and frontal pain 51.8%. Conclusions: Given the link between symptomatic barotrauma and the prevalence of upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs), patients may benefit from advice on avoiding dives when suffering from URTIs, as well as possible medical evaluation to rule out any underlying anatomical predisposing factors. Verifying these results and identifying additional potential contributing factors should be the main goals of future studies.