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Rheumatology Advance Access published online on September 14, 2009
Rheumatology, doi:10.1093/rheumatology/kep249
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

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

Usama F. Kamel1, Peter 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.

Correspondence to: Peter Maddison, School of Medical Sciences, Bangor University, Brigantia Building, Penrallt Road, Bangor LL57 7AS, UK. E-mail: p.maddison{at}bangor.ac.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.

KEY WORDS: Ears, nose and throat, Clinical trials and methods, Quality of life, Sjogren's syndrome

Submitted 2 March 2009; revised version accepted 16 July 2009.
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