Chest
Clinical InvestigationsSmell and Taste Function in Subjects with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Effect of Long-term Oxygen via Nasal Cannulas
Section snippets
Subject Selection Criteria
Twenty subjects with severe COPD receiving long-term oxygen therapy via nasal cannulas (group 1) and an equal number of age-and sex-matched subjects with COPD not receiving oxygen (group 2) were recruited. A healthy matched control group (group 3) was also enlisted.
All subjects with COPD were receiving various medications that included theophylline, inhaled and/or oral β-agonist, steroids, diuretics, and occasionally anti-inflammatory medications. There were four diabetics among the subjects
Smell Test
Sense of smell was evaluated using the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test6 (UPSIT: commercially available as Smell Identification Test, Sensonics, Inc, Philadelphia). This test consists of four envelope-sized booklets containing ten odorants apiece, one odorant per page. The “scratch ‘n sniff” stimuli are embedded in 10- to 50-μm diameter microencapsulated crystals located on brown strips at the bottom of each page. A multiple choice question with four alternative answers is
Demographics
Demographics of the study subjects are shown in Table 1. Age and sex were equally matched in all three groups. Subjects with COPD who were receiving oxygen had more severe obstructive lung disease as compared with subjects with COPD who were not receiving oxygen. Of the 20 subjects with COPD receiving oxygen, 17 were receiving continuous oxygen and three received only nocturnal oxygen.
Smoking status was variable. Only eight subjects were current smokers, 19 were nonsmokers, and the remaining 33
DISCUSSION
The results of our study indicate that the use of long-term oxygen via nasal cannulas in this group of subjects with COPD did not impair their sense of smell or taste. Even though significant differences were noted in the basic smell and taste test scores in all subjects with COPD as compared with controls, there was no difference between subjects with COPD with oxygen and subjects with COPD without oxygen.
In subjects with COPD with oxygen (group 1), no differences were noted in the smell and
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are greatly indebted to Walt Jesteadt, Ph.D., for statistical analysis and Elaine Petersen for typing the manuscript.
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This work was partly supported by a grant from the Health Futures Foundation, Creighton University.
Manuscript received June 5; revision accepted August 21.