RESEARCH - Impact of primary Sjogren's syndrome on smell and taste: effect on quality of life

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Rheumatology Advance Access published online on September 14, 2009

Rheumatology, doi:10.1093/rheumatology/kep249

Impact of primary Sjögren's syndrome on smell and taste: effect on

quality of life

Usama F. Kamel1, Maddison2 and Rhiannon Whitaker3

1North West Wales NHS Trust, 2School of Medical Sciences and 3North

Wales Organisation for Randomised Trials in Health and Social Care

(NWORTH), Bangor University, Bangor, UK.

Abstract

Objectives. To assess the prevalence of abnormal smell and taste

perception in people with primary SS and the effect on quality of life

(QoL).

Methods. Twenty-eight participants with SS and 37 controls were

enrolled in a cohort-matched, prospective, cross-sectional study.

Smell and taste thresholds were measured using standardized, validated

tests. QoL was assessed by the Short Form 12 (SF-12).

Results. Smell threshold was reduced by 1 point (P = 0.002; 95% CI

0.35, 1.54) and taste threshold was reduced by 3.5 points (P < 0.001;

95% CI 1.80, 5.22) in the SS group compared with controls. The

physical and mental components of SF-12 were reduced by 14.2 points (P

< 0.001; 95% CI 9.47, 19.02) and 7.5 points (P = 0.002; 95% CI 2.97,

12.02), respectively, in the SS group compared with controls. Taste

threshold was significantly correlated with both the physical (r =

0.48; P < 0.001) and the mental (r = 0.30; P = 0.015) components of

SF-12. Smell threshold correlated with the physical (r = 0.457; P <

0.001), but not the mental component (r = 0.154; P = 0.222) of SF-12.

Conclusions. Clinically important impairment of chemosensory

perception occurred in the SS group compared with age- and

gender-matched controls. Assessment using SF-12 suggests that this

impairment contributed to the reduced health-related QoL that

characterized these individuals.

http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/kep249v1?papetoc

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