Epidemiology Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Epidemiology, including details on twin studies, statistics, environmental and genetic factors.

Complaints of olfactory disorders: epidemiology, assessment and clinical implications.

Nordin S, Brämerson A

Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. steven.nordin@psy.umu.se

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Recent studies illuminate the difficulties that patients with olfactory disorder face in daily life, which underlines the need to understand its prevalence, and to diagnose and treat these patients. The purpose of the present review is to characterize olfactory disorders and describe associated complaints, present recent insights into epidemiology, suggest procedures to assess these disorders, and discuss clinical implications. RECENT FINDINGS: A compilation of previous and new studies of olfactory disorders suggests associated complaints of poor quality of life, depression, and various specific consequences. Epidemiological studies show that loss in odor sensitivity is common in both general and clinical populations, whereas dysosmia is less common in general populations but frequent in clinical populations. The most common etiologies are post-upper respiratory infection, nasal/sinus disease and head trauma. SUMMARY: Procedures to diagnose olfactory disorders and to identify etiologies are available. Depending on etiology, certain types of treatment are often successful, such as endoscopic sinus surgery and corticosteroid administration in nasal/sinus disease. In post-upper respiratory infection and head trauma, spontaneous recovery is fairly high. In any case, it is advisable to counsel the patient with regards to strategies to cope with olfactory disorders.

Published 11 January 2008 in Curr Opin Allergy Clin Immunol, 8(1): 10-5.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 Epidemiology Research Today. All Rights Reserved.