Involutional stenosis is probably the most common cause of NLD obstruction in older persons. It affects women twice as frequently as men. Although the inciting event in this process is unknown, clinicopathologic study suggests that compression of the lumen of the NLD is caused by inflammatory infiltrates and edema. This may be the result of an unidentified infection or possibly an autoimmune disease.

Sinus disease often occurs in conjunction with, and in other instances may contribute to the development of NLD obstruction. Patients should be asked about previous sinus surgery, as the NLD is sometimes damaged when the maxillary sinus ostium is being enlarged anteriorly.

Frisch & Simonsen (2016) carried out a very large scale study in Denmark, which compared the incidence of meatal stenosis in Muslim males (mostly circumcised) with the incidence of meatal stenosis in ethnic Danish males (mostly non-circumcised). The risk of meatal stenosis in circumcised males was found to be as much 3.7 times higher than in the intact, non-circumcised males.

Numerous studies over a long period of time clearly indicate that male circumcision contributes to the development of urethral stricture. Among circumcised males, reported incidence of meatal stricture varies. Griffiths "et al". (1985) reported an incidence of 2.8 percent. Sörensen & Sörensen (1988) reported 0 percent. Cathcart "et al". (2006) reported an incidence of 0.55 percent. Yegane "et al". (2006) reported an incidence of 0.9 percent. Van Howe (2006) reported an incidence of 7.29 percent. In Van Howe's study, all cases of meatal stenosis were among circumcised boys. Simforoosh "et al". (2010) reported an incidence of 0.55 percent. According to Emedicine (2016), the incidence of meatal stenosis runs from 9 to 20 percent. Frisch & Simonsen (2016) placed the incidence at 5 to 20 percent of circumcised boys.

The resulting syndrome depends on the structure affected.

Examples of vascular stenotic lesions include:

- Intermittent claudication (peripheral artery stenosis)

- Angina (coronary artery stenosis)

- Carotid artery stenosis which predispose to (strokes and transient ischaemic episodes)

- Renal artery stenosis

The types of stenoses in heart valves are:

- Pulmonary valve stenosis, which is the thickening of the pulmonary valve, therefore causing narrowing

- Mitral valve stenosis, which is the thickening of the mitral valve (of the left heart), therefore causing narrowing

- Tricuspid valve stenosis, which is the thickening of the tricuspid valve (of the right heart), therefore causing narrowing

- Aortic valve stenosis, which is the thickening of the aortic valve, therefore causing narrowing

Stenoses/strictures of other bodily structures/organs include:

- Pyloric stenosis (gastric outflow obstruction)

- Lumbar, cervical or thoracic spinal stenosis

- Subglottic stenosis (SGS)

- Tracheal stenosis

- Obstructive jaundice (biliary tract stenosis)

- Bowel obstruction

- Phimosis

- Non-communicating hydrocephalus

- Stenosing tenosynovitis

- Atherosclerosis

- Esophageal stricture

- Achalasia

- Prinzmetal angina

- Vaginal stenosis

The epidemiology of pulmonary valve stenosis can be summed up by the congenital aspect which is the majority of cases, in broad terms PVS is rare in the general population.

An imperforate lacrimal punctum is a congenital disorder of dogs involving the lack of an opening to the nasolacrimal duct (tear duct) in the conjunctiva. Dogs normally have two lacrimal puncta, the superior and inferior. This condition can affect either or both. Symptoms include excessive tearing and tear staining of the hair around the eye. Affected breeds include the American Cocker Spaniel, Bedlington Terrier, Golden Retriever, Poodle, and Samoyed. Imperforate lacrimal puncta can be corrected by surgical opening of the punctum.

If untreated, severe symptomatic aortic stenosis carries a poor prognosis with a 2-year mortality rate of 50-60% and a 3-year survival rate of less than 30%. Prognosis after aortic valve replacement for people who are younger than 65 is about five years less than that of the general population; for people older than 65 it is about the same.

Subglottic stenosis is a congenital or acquired narrowing of the subglottic airway. Although it is relatively rare, it is the third most common congenital airway problem (after laryngomalacia and vocal cord paralysis). Subglottic stenosis can present as a life-threatening airway emergency. It is imperative that the otolaryngologist be an expert at dealing with the diagnosis and management of this disorder. Subglottic stenosis can affect both children and adults.

Subglottic stenosis can be of three forms, namely congenital subglottic stenosis, idiopathic subglottic stenosis (ISS) and acquired subglottic stenosis. As the name suggests, congenital subglottic stenosis is a birth defect. Idiopathic subglottic stenosis is a narrowing of the airway due to an unknown cause. Acquired subglottic stenosis generally follows as an after-effect of airway intubation, and in extremely rare cases as a result of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

Subglottic stenosis is graded according to the Cotton-Meyer classification system from one to four based on the severity of the blockage.

Grade 1 – <50% obstruction

Grade 2 – 51–70% obstruction

Grade 3 – 71–99% obstruction

Grade 4 – no detectable lumen

Treatments to alleviate the symptoms of subglottic stenosis includes a daily dose of steroids such as prednisone, which reduces the inflammation of the area for better breathing. Other medications such as Methotrexate is also being tested by patients but results are pending.

About 60 percent of initial attacks of dacryocystitis will recur. Individuals with a poorly functioning immune system (immunocompromised) may develop orbital cellulitis, which may lead to optic neuritis, proptosis, motility abnormalities, or blindness.

The following table includes the main types of valvular stenosis and regurgitation. Major types of valvular heart disease not included in the table include mitral valve prolapse, rheumatic heart disease and endocarditis.

Laryngotracheal stenosis refers to abnormal narrowing of the central air passageways. This can occur at the level of the larynx, trachea, carina or main bronchi.

In a small number of patients narrowing may be present in more than one anatomical location.

Males are more commonly affected than females, with firstborn males affected about four times as often, and there is a genetic predisposition for the disease. It is commonly associated with people of Scandinavian ancestry, and has multifactorial inheritance patterns. Pyloric stenosis is more common in Caucasians than Hispanics, Blacks, or Asians. The incidence is 2.4 per 1000 live births in Caucasians, 1.8 in Hispanics, 0.7 in Blacks, and 0.6 in Asians. It is also less common amongst children of mixed race parents. Caucasian male babies with blood type B or O are more likely than other types to be affected.

Infants exposed to erythromycin are at increased risk for developing hypertrophic pyloric stenosis, especially when the drug is taken around two weeks of life and possibly in late pregnancy and through breastmilk in the first two weeks of life.

Cervical stenosis may be present from birth or may be caused by other factors:

- Surgical procedures performed on the cervix such as colposcopy, cone biopsy, or a cryosurgery procedure

- Trauma to the cervix

- Repeated vaginal infections

- Atrophy of the cervix after menopause

- Cervical cancer

- Radiation

- Cervical nabothian cysts

Approximately 2% of people over the age of 65, 3% of people over age 75, and 4% percent of people over age 85 have aortic valve stenosis. The prevalence is increasing with the aging population in North America and Europe.

Risk factors known to influence disease progression of AS include lifestyle habits similar to those of coronary artery disease such as hypertension, advanced age, being male, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, cigarette smoking, metabolic syndrome, and end-stage kidney disease.

In the first stage of restenosis, administering anti-platelet drugs (called IIb/IIIa inhibitors) immediately after surgery greatly reduces the chance of a thrombosis occurring.

Drug-eluting stents are now being trialled in Europe, Canada and the USA, as well as in Asia-Pacific. These stents are coated with pharmaceuticals that inhibit tissue growth and thus reduce the risk of restenosis from scar-tissue and cell proliferation.

There has been some success with these new stents in reducing the occurrence of restenosis, with clinical studies showing an incidence rate of 5% or lower.

A variety of causes may lead to dacrocystitis. Most notably, obstruction of the nasolacrimal duct leads to stasis of the nasolacrimal fluid, which predisposes to infection. Staphylococcus aureus is a common bacterial pathogen causing infectious dacrocystitis. Sometimes, especially in women, stones may develop in the lacrimal gland, causing recurrent bouts of dacrocystitis; this condition is called "acute dacryocystic retention syndrome."

Also due to pneumococcus, infection due to surrounding structure such as paranasal sinuses.

A stenosis is an abnormal narrowing in a blood vessel or other tubular organ or structure. It is also sometimes called a stricture (as in urethral stricture).

Stricture as a term is usually used when narrowing is caused by contraction of smooth muscle (e.g., achalasia, prinzmetal angina); stenosis is usually used when narrowing is caused by lesion that reduces the space of lumen (e.g., atherosclerosis). The term coarctation is another synonym, but is commonly used only in the context of aortic coarctation.

Restenosis is the recurrence of stenosis after a procedure. The term is from Ancient Greek στενός, "narrow".

A genetic disorder called “Brickers-Adams-Edwards syndrome” or “X-linked hydrocephalus” has been discovered that leads to aqueductal stenosis. This disease is transmitted from mother to son. This disorder is caused by a point mutation in the gene for neural cell adhesion. Most males born with this have severe hydrocephalus, adducted thumbs, spastic motions, and intellectual problems. Females with this defect may have adducted thumbs or subnormal intelligence.

Bacterial meningitis can also result in gliotic blockage of the aqueduct. In utero infection or infection during infancy could both result in glial cell build up to make an obstruction.

Supravalvular aortic stenosis is associated with genetic damage at the Elastin gene locus on chromosome 7q11.23. Fluorescent in situ hybridisation techniques have revealed that 96% of patients with Williams syndrome, where supravalvular aortic stenosis is characteristic, have a hemizygous deletion of the Elastin gene. Further studies have shown that patients with less extensive deletions featuring the Elastin gene also tend to develop supravalvular aortic stenosis

A left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (LVOTO) may be due to a defect in the aortic valve, or a defect located at the subvalvar or supravalvar level.

- Aortic valve stenosis

- Supravalvar aortic stenosis

- Coarctation of the aorta

- Hypoplastic left heart syndrome

Stenosis of the pulmonary artery is a condition where the pulmonary artery is subject to an abnormal constriction (or stenosis). Peripheral pulmonary artery stenosis may occur as an isolated event or in association with Alagille syndrome, Berardinelli-Seip congenital lipodystrophy type 1, Costello syndrome, Keutel syndrome, nasodigitoacoustic syndrome (Keipert syndrome), Noonan syndrome or Williams syndrome.

It should not be confused with a pulmonary valve stenosis, which is in the heart, but can have similar hemodynamic effects. Both stenosis of the pulmonary artery and pulmonary valve stenosis are causes of pulmonic stenosis.

In some cases it is treated with surgery.

The treatment of choice is percutaneous balloon valvuloplasty and is done when a resting peak gradient is seen to be >60mm Hg or a mean >40mm Hg is observed.

Pyloric stenosis seems to be multifactorial, with some genetic and some environmental components. It is four times more likely to occur in males, and is also more common in the first born. Rarely, infantile pyloric stenosis can occur as an autosomal dominant condition.

It is uncertain whether it is a congenital anatomic narrowing or a functional hypertrophy of the pyloric sphincter muscle.

Supravalvular aortic stenosis is a congenital obstructive narrowing of the aorta just above the aortic valve. It is often associated with other cardiovascular anomalies and is one of the characteristic findings of Williams syndrome. The diagnosis can be made by echocardiography or MRI.