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Objective: Most patients with olfactory dysfunction experience stress and anxiety because of the inconvenience and changes caused by the loss of olfaction. However, psychological assessment is not performed routinely in patients with olfactory dysfunction, and the characteristics of these patients with psychological depression are unclear. Methods: In this study, we used the Self-rating Depression Scale to evaluate the degree of depression in patients who visited our clinic with olfactory dysfunction and examine the characteristics of these patients with strong depressive tendencies. Patients who visited our clinic between April 2019 and March 2020 with complaints of olfactory dysfunction were included in the study. Results: A total of 180 patients (79 male and 101 female) underwent olfactory examination and completed the Self-rating Depression Scale. Eighty-six and 94 patients were included in the low depression and high depression groups, respectively. Binomial logistic regression analysis showed significant positive associations of Self-rating Depression Scale scores with female sex and the presence of parosmia/phantosmia (p < 0.05). Conclusion: In our study, approximately half of the patients with olfactory dysfunction had depressive tendencies especially in female and parosmia/phantosmia patients. We believe that psychological assessments, such as that with the SDS, can help identify patients with olfactory dysfunction who may be at a greater risk of developing depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To examine if the short formed Sniffin Sticks Parosmia Test (SSParoT), a test for parosmia can distinguish cases with parosmia from cases without parosmia. Methods: In this study, 63 patients with postviral olfactory dysfunction were investigated including both COVID and non-COVID cases. The age, symptom duration, degree of parosmia/phantosmia was collected. For olfactory function, the Sniffin Sticks olfactory score was obtained including scores for odor threshold, discrimination and identification. For assessment of parosmic changes, the short SSParoT was adopted and both hedonic range (HedRang) and direction (HedDir) was calculated. Results: The mean HedRang of patients with parosmia (2.35, standard deviation, SD = 1.40) and without parosmia (2.78, SD = 1.09) was smaller than that in controls (4.5, SD = 2.15). However, the mean HedDir of both parosmia (− 0.32, SD = 0.98) and non-parosmia patients (0.04, SD = 1.07) was similar to controls (− 0.1, SD = 1.55). When considering that the 10th percentile of the distribution of SSParoT score should distinguish between patients with and without parosmia, the sensitivity of the HedRang was 29% and specificity was 67%. For HedDir, the sensitivity was 6% and specificity was 100%. Only the odor identification score (r = 0.34, p = 0.01) discriminated parosmia and non-parosmia while other measures including HedRang and HedDir did not. Conclusion: The present study showed that the short SSParoT score could not distinguish patients with parosmia from patients without parosmia. Although the SSParoT represents an innovative approach to assess parosmia, and could be useful in the tracking of parosmic changes, the development of measures to diagnose parosmia in an objective way remains a challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systemic treatment with corticosteroids shows therapeutic effects, few patients benefit from intranasal topical drug application, probably due to limited access of the drug to the olfactory epithelium. The aim of the present study was to investigate how drops distribute within the nasal cavity when the 'Kaiteki' position is performed. Thirteen healthy volunteers participated. Subjects were lying on the side with the head tilted and the chin turned upward. Blue liquid was used to visualize the intranasal distribution of the nasal drops. The investigation was carried out using photo documentation thorough nasal endoscopy; the intranasal distribution of the dye was judged by two independent observers in both a decongested state and a natural state where no decongestants had been used. With regard to the main criterion of this study, using the 'Kaiteki' position, nasal drops reached the olfactory cleft in 96 % of the decongested cases and 75 % of the cases who had not been decongested. However, this difference was not statistically different. Because the 'Kaiteki' maneuver is not too difficult to perform, it is more likely that topical steroids can be helpful in cases of olfactory loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]