Abstract

MARTINS, Marta et al. Can we improve olfaction in allergic rhinitis?. Rev Port Imunoalergologia [online]. 2019, vol.27, n.2, pp.127-134. ISSN 0871-9721.  https://doi.org/10.32932/rpia.2019.07.010.

Introduction:Smell can be impaired in allergic rhinitis (AR). There are few studies on olfactory dysfunction in this disease. A pilot study was conducted to evaluate olfactory function in patients with allergic rhinitis before and after treatment with two different pharmacological options. Methods: Twenty patients with untreated AR were randomly selected and assigned to 2 groups: group 1 was treated with oral antihistamine (A-H1) and group 2 with intranasal corticosteroid for 2 weeks. The nasal symptoms of the patients and their olfactory function were evaluated before and after the treatment using the Test of Control of Asthma and Allergic Rhinitis (CARAT) and the Barcelona Smell Test (BAST-24). Results: In the pre-treatment evaluation, the two groups of patients presented a CARAT score of less than 8 in the upper airway score, and in the post-therapy evaluation, 80% of the patients scored above 8. In the BAST-24 evaluation an overall improvement was observed after the course of 2 weeks of therapy. In the forced choice of odors, an initial mean of 59.5 ± 14.42 was found in group 1, which improve to 69 ± 12.2 (p <0.05); group 2 presented an initial mean of 54.5 ± 12.34 and after treatment 71.5 ± 13.75 (p <0.05). Conclusions: In our study, patients with untreated AR had an improvement in olfactory function after 2 weeks of therapy. In both groups there was a statistically significant improvement in the sense of smell. We cannot draw definitive conclusions given the small number of the sample, however the topical nasal corticosteroid showed a greater improvement in the symptoms of rhinitis and in the olfactory function.

Keywords : Allergic rhinitis; olfaction; oral antihistamine; intranasal corticosteroid.

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